Eight years ago, I spent several weeks in Pantelleria. I had once been invited to the island in 1971 but never made the trip. In 2001 I finally made it. I rented a dammuso, one of the thick stone houses that characterize the island. I had a motor scooter and a supply of wine from a friend who had a winery there. My wife had died a few months before and I was verklempt from the battle she waged for three years and the ultimate loss. She had the real MS, multiple sclerosis. I cannot tell you how much I despise that disease. More than anything.
I had wine to drink and a little kitchen to cook in. I spent the days tooling around the island looking at the vineyards and other natural sights. In all, it was as good a way of mourning Liz’s loss as I could muster. There was a funeral on the island when I was there; a young person had lost their life in the sea. We were all sad that day.The island had great seafood and ice cream. I started jogging there. I still eat seafood and ice cream. And I still jog. And of course, the Passito di Pantelleria is a very special wine to me, because of the bittersweet memory of the time I spent on the island.
I heard this song the other day on the Prairie Home Companion, by the Australian alt-country duo Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. The song is an old American country one, called “When we're gone, long gone.”
Trouble, we have known trouble
In our struggle just to get by
Many times the burden's been heavy
Still we carried on side by side
And when we're gone long gone
The only thing that will have mattered
Is the love that we shared
And the way that we cared
When we're gone, long gone
And when we're walking together in glory
Hand in hand through eternity
It's the love that will be remembered
Not wealth, not poverty
And when we're gone long gone
The only thing that will have mattered
Is the love that we shared
And the way that we cared
When we're gone, long gone
