To Those I Love

I found more of Murad's papers I had today in piles of stuff I'm going through now that it's tax time.  There are two poems here, one to Mothers that I'll post in May and the other to those who've died that I've posted below.  I had borrowed them from Murad to copy; it seems so ironic that they gave him strength several years ago when his mother died and they've surfaced in my possession now.  Ugh -- All these people we've already lost this year, it's such a challenge to cope with their disappearance from our lives. I look forward to seeing them all again soon.

To Those I Love and Those Who Loved Me

When I am gone, release me, let me go
I have so many things to see and do.
You must not tie yourself to me with tears;
Be happy that we had these precious years.

I gave to you my love, you can only guess,
How much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you each have shown,
But now it's time I travelled on alone.

So grieve a while for me if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It's only for a while that we must part,
So bless the memories within your heart.

I won't be far away, for life goes on;
So if you need me, call and I will come,
Though you can't see me or touch me, I'll be near,
And if you listen with your heart, you will hear
All of my love around you soft and clear.

And then, when you must come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and say welcome home.

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room

I am I and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we are still

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way you always used

Put no difference into your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we always enjoyed together

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was

Let it be spoken without effort

Without the ghost of a shadow in it

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was

There is absolute unbroken continuity

What is death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you for an interval

Somewhere very near

Just around the corner

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost

One brief moment and all will be as it was before

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral