‘I'll lend you for a little time
a child of mine’. He said.
‘For you to love the while he lives
and mourn for when he's dead.

It may be six or seven year
or twenty-two or three
but will you, till I call him back
take care of him for me?

He'll bring his charms to gladden you
and should his stay be brief,
You'll have his lovely memories
as solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay
since all from earth return,
but there are lessons taught down there
I want the child to learn.

I've looked this wide world over
in my search for teacher's true,
and from the throngs that crowd life's lanes,
I have selected you;

Now will you give him all your love,
nor think the labour vain
nor hate Me when I come to call
and take him back again?’

I fancied that I heard them say,
‘Dear Lord, they will be done,
for all the joy thy child shall bring,
for the risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter him with tenderness,
we'll love him while we may,
and for the happiness we've known,
forever grateful stay.

But should the angels call for him
much sooner than we planned,
we'll brave the bitter grief that comes
and try to understand.’

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
Where there is injury, your pardon;
And where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O divine master, grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

I took up a handful of grain and let it slip flowing through my fingers, and I said to myself; This is what it is all about. There is no longer any room for pretence. At harvest time the essence is revealed - the straw and chaff are set aside, they have done their job. The grain alone matters - sacks of pure gold.

So it is when a person dies the essence of that person is revealed. At the moment of death a person’s character stands out happy for the person who has forged it well over the years. Then it will not be the great achievement that will matter, nor, how much money or possessions a person has amassed. These, like the straw and the chaff, will be left behind. It is what he has made of himself that will matter. Death can take away from us what we have, but it cannot rob us of who we are.

Just close your eyes and you will see
all the memories that you have of me.
Just sit and relax and you will find
I'm really still there inside your mind.

Don't cry for me now I'm gone
for I am in the land of song;
there is no pain, there is no fear,
so dry away that silent tear.

Don't think of me in the dark and cold
for here I am, no longer old.
I'm in that place that's filled with love
known to you all, as ‘up above’.

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 in your tone,
wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we 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 trace of a shadow in it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was;
There is unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

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 in your tone,
wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we 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 trace of a shadow in it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was;
There is unbroken continuity.
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disappointment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune,
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive him to be,
and whatever your labours and aspirations
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

With all it’s sham and drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing.
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free.
I'm following the path God has laid you see.
I took his hand when I heard him call.
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,
to laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I found that peace at the close of the day.

If my parting has left a void,
then fill it with remembered joys.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
oh yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I savoured much,
good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your hearts and peace to thee.
God wanted me now; he set me free!

She passed away like morning dew
before the sun was high;
So brief her time, she scarcely knew
the meaning of a sigh.

As round the rose its soft perfume,
Sweet love around her floated;
Admired she grew-while mortal doom
Crept on, unfeared, unnoted.

Love was her guardian Angel here,
But Love to Death resigned her;
Though Love was kind, why should we fear
But holy Death is kinder?

It was beautiful
as long as it lasted,
the journey of my life.

I have no regrets
whatsoever save
the pain I'll leave behind.

Those dear hearts
who love and care
and the heavy with sleep
ever moist eyes.

The smile, in spite of a
lump in the throat
and the strings pulling
at the heart and soul…

The strong arms
that held me up
when my own strength
let me down.

At every turning of my life
I came across good friends,
friends who stood by me,
even when the time raced by.

Farewell, farewell, my friends
I smile and bid you goodbye.
No, shed no tears, for I need them not,
all I need is your smile.

If you feel sad do think of me
for that's what I'd like,
when you live in the hearts of those you love,
remember then…
you never die.

Here, freed from pain, secure from misery, lies
a child, the darling of his parents' eyes:
A gentler lamb ne'er sported on the plain,
a fairer flower will never bloom again:
Few were the days allotted to his breath;
Now let him sleep in peace his night of death.

It was beautiful as long as it lasted the journey of my life.
I have no regrets whatsoever save the pain I’ll leave behind.
Those dear hearts who love and care…
And the heart strings pulling at the heart and sole…
The strong arms that held me up when my own strength let me down.
At every turning of my life I came across good friends,
Friends who stood by me even when the time raced me by.

Farewell, farewell my friends
I smile and bid you goodbye.
No, shed no tears for I need them not
All I need is your smile.
If you feel sad do think of me.
For that’s what I’ll like.
When you live in the hearts of those you love,
Remember then you never die.

Now I have lost you, I must scatter
all of you on the air henceforth;
Not that to me it can ever matter
but it's only fair to the rest of the earth.

Now especially, when it is winter
and the sun's not half as bright as it was,
who wouldn't be glad to find a splinter
that once was you in the frozen grass?

Snowflakes, too, will be softer feathered,
Clouds, perhaps, will be whiter plumed;
Rain, whose brilliance you caught and gathered,
Purer silver have resumed.

Farewell, sweet dust; I never was a miser:
Once, for a minute, I made you mine:
Now you are gone, I am none the wiser
but the leaves of the willow are as bright as wine.

Feel no guilt in laughter,
he'd know how much you care.
Feel no sorrow in a smile
that he is not here to share.

You cannot grieve forever;
he would not want you to.
He'd hope that you could carry on
the way you always do.

So, talk about the good times
and the way you showed you cared,
the days you spent together,
all the happiness you shared.

Let memories surround you,
a word someone may say
will suddenly recapture, a time,
an hour, a day,
that brings him back as clearly
as though he were still here,
and fills you with the feeling
that he is always near.

For if you keep those moments,
you will never be apart
and he will live forever
locked safe within your heart.

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from anguish,
sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints,
so I said to the Lord,
‘You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you’.

Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love,
time is eternity.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
and a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
they fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
to the end, to the end, they remain.

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing,
but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you reach the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

God looked around his garden
and found an empty place,
He then looked down upon the earth
and saw your tired face.

He put his arms around you
and lifted you to rest;
God’s garden must be beautiful
he always takes the best.

He knew that you were suffering,
he knew you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
get well on earth again.

He saw the road was getting rough
and the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids
and whispered ‘Peace be Thine’.

It broke our hearts to lose you,
but you did not go alone,
for part of us went with you,
the day God called you home.

I’ll lend you for a little while a child of mine, God said,
For you to love the while she lives, and mourn for when she’s dead.
It may be six or seven years, or forty two or three,
But will you, ’til I call her back, take care of her for me?
She’ll bring her charms to gladden you. And should her stay be brief,
You’ll always have your memories as solace in your grief.
I cannot promise she will stay, since all from earth return,
But there are lessons taught below I want this child to learn.
I’ve looked this whole world over in my search for teachers true,
And from the folk that crowd life’s lane, I have chosen you.
Now will you give her all your love and not think the labour vain,
Nor hate me when I come to take this lent child back again.
I fancy that I heard them say, ‘Dear God Thy will be done’,
For all the joys this child will bring, the risk of grief we’ll run.
We will shelter her with tenderness, we’ll love her while we may,
And for all the happiness we’ve ever known, we’ll ever grateful stay.
But should the angels call her much sooner than we’d planned,
We will brace the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.

Don't think of him as gone away--
his journey's just begun
life holds so many facets
this earth is only one.

Just think of him as resting
from the sorrows and the tears
in a place of warmth and comfort
where there are no days and years.

Think how he must be wishing
that we could know today
how nothing but our sadness
can really pass away.

And think of him as living
in the hearts of those he touched...
for nothing loved is ever lost--
and he was loved so much.

If I should die before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor, when I’m gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must
Parting is hell.
But life goes on.
So sing as well.

If I should never see the moon again
Rising red gold across the harvest field
Or feel the stinging soft rain
As the brown earth her treasures yield.

If I should never taste the salt sea spray
As the ship beats her course across the breeze.
Or smell the dog-rose and new-mown hay,
or moss or primroses beneath the tree.

If I should never hear the thrushes wake
Long before the sunrise in the glimmering dawn.
Or watch the huge Atlantic rollers break
Against the rugged cliffs in baffling scorn.

If I have to say good bye to stream and wood,
To wide ocean and the green clad hill,
I know that he, who made this world so good
Has somewhere made a heaven better still.

This bears witness with my latest breath
Knowing the love of God,
I fear no death.

If roses grow in Heaven, Lord,
please pick a bunch for me,
place them in my mother's arms
and tell her they're from me.

Tell her, I love her and I miss her,
and when she turns to smile,
place a kiss upon her cheek
and hold her for a while.

Remembering her is easy,
I do it every day,
but there's an ache within my heart
that will never go away.

If tears could build a stairway,
and memories a lane.
I would walk right up to Heaven
and bring you back again.

No farewell words were spoken,
No time to say "Goodbye".
You were gone before I knew it,
and only God knows why.

My heart still aches with sadness,
and secret tears still flow.
What it meant to love you -
No one can ever know.

But now I know you want me
to mourn for you no more;
To remember all the happy times
life still has much in store.

Since you'll never be forgotten,
I pledge to you today -
A hollowed place within my heart
is where you'll always stay.

If you should forget me for a while,
And afterwards remember, do not grieve,
For if the darkness and the shadows
Leave a vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far that you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

May the roads rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rain fall softly upon your fields until we meet again
And may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

When I come to the end of the road
and the sun has set for me,
I want no tears in a gloom filled room,
why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little – but not too long
and not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that once we shared,
miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take,
and each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the master plan
a step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
go to the friends that we know,
Laugh at all the things we used to do.
Miss me – but let me go.

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end,
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown’d,
Crooked eclipses ‘gainst his glory fight,
And Time, that gave, doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,
And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow;
Feels on the rarities of nature’s truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

When I come to the end of the road
and the sun has set for me,
I want no tears in a gloom filled room,
why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little – but not too long
and not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that once we shared,
miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take,
and each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the master plan
a step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
go to the friends that we know,
Laugh at all the things we used to do.
Miss me – but let me go.

You’ve just walked on ahead of me
And I’ve got to understand
You must release the ones you love
And let go of their hand.

I try and cope the best I can
But I’m missing you so much
If I could only see you
And once more feel your touch.

Yes, you’ve just walked on ahead of me
Don’t worry I’ll be fine
But now and then I swear I feel
Your hand slip into mine.

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell;
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then you should make you woe.
O if (I say) you look upon this verse,
When I, perhaps, compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.

There is no night without a dawning
No winter without a spring
And beyond the dark horizon
Our hearts will once more sing...
For those who leave us for a while
Have only gone away
Out of a restless, care worn world
Into a brighter day

Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky.
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast.
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I have kissed young Love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end,
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend.
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well.
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I give a share of my soul to the world where my course is run.
I know that my another shall finish the task I must leave undone.
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I trod.
As one looks on a face through a window, through life I have looked on God,
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

Not how did he die, but how did he live?
Not what did he gain, but what did he give?

These are the units to measure the worth of a man,
as a man, regardless of birth.

Not, what was his church, nor what was his creed,
but had he befriended those really in need?

Was he ever ready, with words of good cheer,
to bring back a smile, to banish a tear?

Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say,
but how many were sorry when he passed away?

Think of me as one at rest,
for me you should not weep
I have no pain no troubled thoughts
for I am just asleep
The living thinking me that was,
is now forever still
And life goes on without me now,
as time forever will.

If your heart is heavy now
because I’ve gone away
Dwell not long upon it friend
For none of us can stay
Those of you who liked me,
I sincerely thank you all
And those of you who loved me,
I thank you most of all.

And in my fleeting lifespan,
as time went rushing by
I found some time to hesitate,
to laugh, to love, to cry
Matters it now if time began
If time will ever cease?
I was here, I used it all,
and now I am at peace.

Tis only we who grieve
They do not leave
They are not gone
They look upon us still
They walk among the valleys now
They stride upon the hill
Their smile is in the summer sky
Their grace is in the breeze
Their memories whisper in the grass
Their calm is in the trees
Their light is in the winter snow
Their tears are in the rain
Their merriment runs in the brook
Their laughter in the lane
Their gentleness is in the flowers
They sigh in autumn leaves
They do not leave
They are not gone
Tis only we who grieve

Our memories build a special bridge
when loved ones have to part,
to help us feel we're with them still
and soothe a grieving heart.
They span the years and warm our lives
preserving ties that bind.
Our memories build a special bridge
and bring us peace of mind.

Remember me when I am gone away,
gone far away into the silent land;
when you can no more hold me by the hand,
nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
you tell me of our future that you planned;
only remember me, you understand,
it will be too late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while,
and afterwards remember, do not grieve;
For if the darkness and corruption leave
a vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile,
than that you should remember and be sad.

You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
Or you can be full of the love that you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she is gone,
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

To laugh often and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one’s self;
to leave the world a little better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation;
to know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived –
this is to have succeeded.

The death of someone we love and care about is like the death of part of us.
No one else will ever call out from within us quite the same responses, the same feelings or actions or ideas.
Their death is an ending of one part of a story.
Lord as we look back over ‘Rose's’ life, we ask what we have received, what we can appropriate
and continue on in our own lives and what must be laid to rest.
Our love for him/her reminds us that our sharing in one another's lives brings both support and pain.
Our being parted from him/her reminds us of our own mortality and that your love is enduring.
We thank you that our love for ‘Rose’ draws us together and gives us a new appreciation of one another
and of the beauty and fragility of relationships which mirror your grace and goodness to us.
Lord, time's tide may wash his/her footprints from the shore but not our love for him/her nor the influence of his/her life upon our own, nor the ways in which they will ever be a sign for us of those things which really matter - which are eternal.
Hear this prayer for your love's sake.
Amen.

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God's free light,
Watered and fed by the morning dew,
Shedding it's sweetness day and night.

As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall
Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength
With never a thought of fear or pride,
It followed the light through the crevice's length
And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view
Were found the same as they were before,
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing it's fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve
And make our courage faint and fall?
Nay! Let us faith and hope receive -
The rose still grows beyond the wall,

Scattering fragrance far and wide
Just as it did in days of yore,
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will forever-more.

I am standing on the seashore.
A ship sails and spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her till at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says:
‘She is gone.’ Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all;
she is just as large in the masts, hull a spars as she was when I saw her,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.

The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not her;
and just at the moment when someone at my side says;
‘She’s gone’ there are others who are watching her coming and other voices take up a glad shout,
‘There she comes’, and that is dying.

There is no night without a dawning,
no winter without a spring,
and beyond the dark horizon
our hearts will once more sing…
For those who leave us for a while
have only gone away,
out of a restless, care worn world
into a brighter day.

They do not leave,
they are not gone,
they look upon us still.
They walk among the valleys now,
they stride upon the hill.

Their smile is in the summer sky,
their grace is in the breeze,
their memories whisper in the grass,
their calm is in the trees.

Their light is in the winter snow,
their tears are in the rain,
their merriment runs in the brook,
their laughter in the lane.

Their gentleness is in the flowers,
they sigh in autumn leaves.
They do not leave, they are not gone,
tis only we who grieve.

If I should die and leave you here awhile,
be not like others sore undone who
keep long vigil by the silent dust and weep.

For my sake turn again to life and smile,
nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do
something to comfort other hearts than thine.

Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine,
and I, perchance may therein comfort you.

The clock of life is wound but once,
and no man has the power
to tell just when the hands will stop
at late or early hour.

To lose one's wealth is sad indeed,
to lose one's health is more,
to lose one's soul is such a loss
that no man can restore.

The present only is our own,
so live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in 'tomorrow'
for the clock may then be still.

The sadness of the present days
is locked and set in time,
and moving to the future
is a slow and painful climb.

But all the feelings that are now
so vivid and so real,
can't hold their fresh intensity
as time begins to heal.

No wound so deep will ever go,
entirely away;
Yet every hurt becomes
a little less from day to day.

Nothing else can erase the painful
imprints on your mind;
But there are softer memories
that time will let you find.

Though your heart won't let the sadness
simply slide away,
the echoes will diminish
even though the memories stay.

When at heart you should be sad,
pondering the joys we had.
Listen and keep very still.
If the lowing from the hill
Or the toiling of a bell
Do not serve to break the spell,
Listen: you may be allowed
To hear my laughter from a cloud.

The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God,
no torment shall ever touch them.
In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die,
their going looked like a disaster,
their leaving us, like annihilation;
but they are in peace.
If they experienced punishment as men see it,
their hope was rich with immortality;
slight was their affliction, great will their blessings be.
God has put them to the test
and proved them worthy to be with Him;
he has tested them like gold in a furnace,
and accepted them as a holocaust.
When the trine comes for his visitation they will shine out;
as sparks run through the stubble, so will they.
They shall judge nations, rule over peoples,
and the Lord will be their king for ever.
They who trust in him will understand the truth,
those who are faithful will live with him in love;
for grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

A man’s life is laid in a loom of time
To a pattern he does not see.
While the Weaver works and the shuttles fly
Till the end of eternity.

Some shuttles are filled with silver thread,
And some with threads of gold;
While often but the darker hue
Is all that they may hold.

But the weaver watches with skilful eye
Each shuttle fly to and fro,
And sees the pattern so deftly wrought
As the loom works sure and slow.

God surely planned that pattern
Each thread – the dark and the fair –
Was chosen by his master skill
And placed in the web with care.

He only knows the beauty
And guides the shuttles which hold
The threads so unattractive
As well as the threads of gold.

Not till the loom is silent.
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the pattern
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weavers skilful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern he had planned.

Into the darkness and warmth of the earth
We lay you down
Into the sadness and smiles of our memories
We lay you down
Into the cycle of living and dying and rising again
We lay you down
May you rest in peace, in fulfilment, in loving
May you run straight home in God’s embrace
Into the freedom of wind and sunshine
We let you go
Into the dance of the stars and the planets
We let you go
Into the wind’s breath and the hands of the star maker
We let you go
We love you, we miss you, we want you to be happy
Go safely, go dancing, go running home

When I die and leave behind
This earth I love
These trees, this sky,
The pounding sea,
The yearly hope of spring,
Cry not for me,
Rejoice.
My soul has wings
And in its freedom sings.