Togetherness

[mlg]

Just wanted to share this poem that was read at a relatives funeral recently. I think it will hit home here and for all the other grievers on this site.

Togetherness

Death is nothing at all

I have slipped away into the next room.

Whatever we were to each other, that we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.

Speak to me in the easy way you always used.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me and pray for me

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

Let it be spoken without effort.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it was.

There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of your mind.

Because I am out of you sight?

I am waiting for you, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well.

One brief moment, and it will all be as it was before

Only better, infinitely happier forever.

We will be one.

Together.

Author unknown

I think that pretty well sums up how I feel. I just wish other people would still recognize him too.

I will always miss you Tom and can't wait until we are together again.

[MartyT]

Mary Linda, dear ~ I think the poem you heard may be based on the original by Henry Scott-Holland:

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

[Boo Mayhew]

Mary Linda - I included the original poem at the back of Cliff's Eulogy and Order of Service. It gives me comfort actually.

Have you read Water Bugs and Dragonflies? That also gives me comfort (Doris Stickey wrote it as a way to explain death to children ... perhaps that's why I like it )

xx

[kayc]

That is a beautiful and comforting reminder..they are not gone, they are physically away, but ever present in our hearts.

Kay

[JeanneC]

Mary Linda:

What a nice poem with a lot of meaning. Not the kind of poem that makes you cry, but the kind that gives you hope that one day we will all be together.

I am now fighting with that belief. I guess nobody can give you that guarantee. My husband always felt that we will be together. That makes me happy that he is happy right now. I always was afraid of dying, but after Alex passed I do not have that fear anymore in the hope that we will be together.

Thank you for the poem, it made me feel much better about things.

Love and God Bless,

Jeanne

[LostnEmpty]

I thought that was a really nice poem and it made me cry thinking about my Marc. I hate it so much that there is no solid evidence or proof of the afterlife and people here like all of us are left to wonder what happens to our loved ones. I and am sure many here want to and hope there is an afterlife so we can look foward to reuniting with our loves when our time comes. But it is really hard not truly knowing for a fact that it exists yet I continue to hope because I need to believe that I will be with Marc again. Personally I have never been afraid of dying and i continue to not be afraid of it. Actually I have always looked forward to it but then i met Marc and i had a reason for wanting to live for as long as possible. Now since he died, a part of me wants to go so i can be with Marc but the other bigger part of me doesn't want to go because I want to be with our baby- i need to be with our baby and there is no way I would ever leave her without her mother especially since i am all she has. So now our baby is my reason and only reason to want to live and continue on.

[kath]

Mary Linda,

Thank you for sharing this. This is the first time I've heard this and it is beautiful. On my best days, I believe all of it. How interesting to think of them waiting for us..."in an interval."

Talia,

I have been through many struggles in this life, my husband's passing just being the last one. I had to learn, after a lot of pain, that happiness must come from inside of us. It isn't dependent on the people around us. Marc found someone very wonderful in you, someone worth loving. I pray that you discover that also. It will be a great gift to your little girl.

Kath