SAN DIEGO—Sometimes Hal Wingard could be quite somber, as the following songs indicate. To hear other songs in his collection, please click here.


#206 -- The Oakland Fire
#141 -- Pain Only Vaguely Remembered
#134 -- Pain

#206, The Oakland Fire
(click here to hear song)

Deserted debris
Is all you can see
Where Oakland's best homes once stood proud.
Now layers of ash
On rubble and trash
Serve as a neighborhood shroud.

Oh--oh--
Serve as a neighborhood shroud.

Well-wishers may grieve
But cannot conceive
The tragedy's terrible cost
In homes, but more
Like victims of war,
In lives that were suddenly lost.

Oh--oh--
In lives that were suddenly lost

And those who must cry
Can never know why
It's they who must bear circumstance.
No way to explain
To those with the pain
It's all only matter of chance.

Oh--oh--
It's all only matter of chance.

When fatal fires burn
Destroying what stands in their path?
What lesson is there
So, what can we learn
For those who may share
A loss in a fire's aftermath?

Oh--oh--
A loss in a fire's aftermath?

Since we can't control
When Death may take toll,
Let's use ev'ry day comes anew
To let our love grow
And ev'ry way show
All those whom we love. . .that we do.

Oh--oh--
Show all those we love that we do.

(c) 2009 Estate of Hal Wingard; In memory of Segal Livnah, who--on October 20, 1991--lost her life in the Oakland fire. November 17, 1991. Words, based on the eulogy delivered by Rabbi Martin Levin, Monday, November 4, at Temple Emanuel in San Francisco, completed November 15, 1991, on a USAir flight from San Diego to San Francisco.




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#141, Pain Only Vaguely Remembered
(click here to hear song)

Pain only vaguely remembered
In no way is pain we can feel.
For pain of the past is forgotten.
It's pain of the present that's real.
To relive a moment of pleasure
Requires no great effort or skill:
We conjure a joyous occasion
And feel all the pleasure we will.

But pain of the past lies in hiding,
Avoiding the brightness of life,
Hidden in layers of living
That bury all unwanted strife.
I'm grateful our senses protect us,
Help make our living humane,
Help us forget all the burning,
The torture of being in pain.

Pain only vaguely remembered
In no way is pain we can feel.
For pain of the past is forgotten.
It's pain of the present that's real.


(c) Estate of Hal Wingard. March 13, 1982 In vague memory of pain at Kaiser Hospital, March 8-12, 1982


#134, Pain
(click here to hear song)

Weep, how I weep !
How I keep on weeping !
Weep, how I weep !
My eyes will never sleep.

Pain, I’m in pain.
I weep and I sigh.
Pain, I’m in pain--
In pain until I die.

Cry, how I cry !
How I keep on crying !
Cry, how I cry !
My tears will never dry.

Pain, I’m in pain.
I weep and I sigh.
Pain, I’m in pain--
In pain until I die.

Grieve, how I grieve !
How I keep on grieving !
Grieve, how I grieve !
The pain will never leave.

Pain, I’m in pain.
I weep and I sigh.
Pain, I’m in pain--
In pain until I die. . .
. . .until I die. . .
. . .until I die. . .
. . .until I die.

(c) Estate of Hal Wingard, October 21, 1981

**

Hal Wingard died May 25, 2009 at age 83 in San Diego. He was an educator who specialized in methodologies for foreign language teaching and had served on the California State Curriculum Commission. His wife, Eileen, a retired symphony violinist and occasional contributor to San Diego Jewish World, survives him, along with three daughters and a son.