Lou Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson has penned an obituary for the iconic singer-songwriter. Published in Long Island, New York’s East Hampton Star newspaper, the piece offers some insight into the final days of the Velvet Underground co-founder, who succumbed to liver disease on October 27 at the age of 71.

“Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs,” Anderson writes. “And we made it!” She continues: “Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air. Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life.”

Anderson’s letter follows a flood of tributes, praise, and remembrances dedicated to Reed. Since his passing, the late legend’s album sales have surged dramatically.

Read Anderson’s entire obituary for Reed below.

To our neighbors:

What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.

Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.

Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!

Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.

Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.

— Laurie Anderson

his loving wife and eternal friend

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