A Heartfelt Tribute
Music: Naomi
Artist: Marc Scibilia
Shared by: Adam for Naomi
The song is a heartfelt tribute to someone called Naomi, I only came to know of this song the day of my darling little sister’s tragic death by suicide, September 12th 2024.
“The lyrics describe her beauty, comparing her hair to sunshine and her eyes to diamonds.”
Music was always important to my sister Naomi, she was a keen musician in her early years mastering the clarinet and saxophone and once playing at The Royal Albert Hall in London with the Sussex Youth Orchestra.
I was in the throes of turmoil, confusion, the deepest pain and the most traumatic grief I have ever experienced. The afternoon was spent walking with my dogs and listening to music, when for some reason I decided to search for songs with her name in them.
I had never heard this song, so when I listened to the lyrics, the love and the sentiment behind them, I was once again drawn to tears and in that moment I felt her close to me – on my shoulder, she was there, with me.
The lyrics describe her beauty, comparing her hair to sunshine and her eyes to diamonds. The singer, in a gentle male voice, expresses his deep love and admiration for Naomi, hoping that one day she will realise how much he adores her. He wants to stay by her side for the rest of his life and protect her – this is exactly how I felt and still feel for my sister, as her only sibling and older brother by four years, this was the role I had always fulfilled, until I could no longer.
I wanted one more fleeting moment to remind her how valuable and cherished she was to me, to our whole family especially her two sons and husband, particularly to our parents - now in their latter years. That she had worth, purpose and hope.
It's a beautiful and evocative piece that resonated on a visceral level with me, it was out ofbody, spiritual, connecting us once again.
That evening, I was with my parents, my wife and our children – I read the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish and then played the song to them. We held hands and tears streamed down our faces, it was new to everyone; a song never heard but forever connecting us with beautiful Naomi.
The song was played at her funeral, again nobody in the congregation was familiar with it – it came into our lives when we needed it the most. It felt as if the song had been written with her in mind, to be played on that day with the people for whom she meant the most.
As I listened back to the song today for the first time in a while, I am taken back to that place of deep loss. Time and talking is helping to process the grief and put space between the day it happened and the changes in all of our lives this has impacted...the ripples go so far and wide.
Naomi was known and was loved in her known self, everyone was touched by her love.
May Naomi’s incredible resilience,
her value of connection,
her lifelong appreciation for nature,
her academic curiosity,
her adventurous spirit,
her desire to experience life in different cultures,
her love for new experiences,
her deep adoration and loyalty to her family and friends eventually, with time, fill us all, with love and laughter once again…
Zichronah Livracha; In Naomi’s memory, let us say, Amen.