For Nikolai

Mark (Марко) added this to his today blog:



[Here is the link.]

Nikolai was singing this (and, in typical fashion, very loud, slightly off key, and with charmingly mangled English lyrics) when he died. Thank you all for the emails, phone calls, and flowers. I won't be online for a long while. I will get back with everyone, but it may be a month or two. Oh, I will be OK. But the world is certainly going to be much more lonely and is going to be a lot less fun. I will miss his singing, his exotic and dramatic table graces, and his calm and bemused expression which made me think that he knew something the rest of us didn't know. If you can, sing something to someone you love today. That's the best tribute one can offer for this good, gentle, and kind man.

Николай, my bosom buddy, обичам те!
[Nikolai, my bosom buddy, I love you!]

Mark told me once that Nikolai sang to him every day. Let us honor Mark's request and sing something to someone we love (or even a total stranger), as our tribute to Nikolai and Mark.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Mark, their son Radi, and for the repose of the soul of Nikolai.

--the BB