All Is Gone, All Is Gone

"The girl on the cover of the Bob Dylan album" died this week at age sixty-seven. Suze Rotolo was an artist, an author, a civil rights activist, a mother, and forever an iconic figure in Bob Dylan's life. When I first saw this album cover as a teenager I was mesmerized by it. It represented everything I thought my life should be at the time. Look at her, she is happy, confident, living in New York City's Greenwich Village, and hanging on to her boyfriend's arm; a soulful, sensitive artist.  Who could want anything more out of life?

Her death caused a great ache in my heart.  Part of the reason for this is best explained by Neil McCormick of the British newspaper The Telegraph. He wrote that at some point in life you "get to a certain age when the obituary columns start to fill with characters who have populated your world." In fact, he explains just why Rotolo's death saddened me so better than I ever could that I'm sending you here to read his article.