Rabbi Aaron Lever of Gulfside Regional Hospice plays a Reverie Harp, a small, 22-string instrument he uses to soothe the dying. With the wooden, egg-shaped instrument resting on his lap, he plucks the strings, one or two at a time, making up tunes. He reads music well, but doesn’t need it for the harp.

Lever is at the centerpiece of this story by Mary Kenney about a visit to a dying cancer patient named James Young, a musician himself -- he and his family formed a string band years ago in Philadelphia.

The story of Lever and Young and their music is well worth reading. Click here read it.

Photo: Douglas R. Clifford, tbt*