I was in great haste to finish some mundane task. But with a lightning quick maneuver, I managed to sneak a glance at my Facebook newsfeed.
It was then that I saw you, intense eyes staring right out of my phone screen. My heart lurched at the thought that you might be coming to the Philippines for a concert. Why else would CNN PH feature you?
And then I physically doubled over at the headline. My boys started and frantically asked what was wrong as I kept repeating, no, no, no, no, with each word sounding like a shriek done in reverse.
It was as if I had been disemboweled. I spent the entire night reading the comment section of your FB page. It was my only solace and refuge then. To know that I was not alone, that what I was experiencing was not some cultivated narcissistic affectation because after all, where do I figure in the great drama of your life?
I read and read and felt to my core each testimony of indescribable loss.
In those first few moments, I could not be anywhere else. Because those whose lives have not been touched by your voice would deem our grief theatrical.
But you have clearly moved millions by your music. And I, buried deep among them, echo the same sentiment over and over. You got us through our darkest times. Your songs have been the soundtrack of our lives, your haunting voice, the soothing elixir for our broken souls.
Chris Cornell, you're the shape of the hole inside our hearts. NO ONE SINGS LIKE YOU ANYMORE.
