Poetry & Prayer

To See Heaven in a wildflower

Death is Nothing

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 still are.

Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
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 on it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

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.
Canon Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)

A Parable of Immortality

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud
Just where the sea and the sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone says, “There she goes!”
Gone where?
Gone from my sight, that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There she goes”
There are other eyes watching her coming
And their voices ready to take up the glad shouts,
“Here she comes!”
By Henry Van Dyke

To All Parents

“I’ll lend you for a little time a child of mine,” He said.
“For you to love the while he lives and mourn when he is dead,

“It may be six or seven years, 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, but 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 this child to learn.

“I’ve looked the wide world over in my search for teachers 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 labor vain,
“Nor hate me when I come to call to take him back again?

I fancied that I heard them say: Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
“For all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we’ll run.

We’ll shelter him with tenderness: we’ll love him while we may,
And for happiness we’ve known forever grateful stay.

“But should the angels call for him much sooner than we’d planned.
“We’ll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.”
Edgar Guest

Gates of Prayer – Reform Judaism Prayer Book
As long as we live, they too will live;
For they are now a part of us:
As we remember them!

At the rising sun and at its going down we remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter we remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring we remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer we remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn we remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends we remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us.

As we remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart we remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make we remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share we remember them.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs we remember them.
For as long as we live, they too will live,
For they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

Young Life Cut Short

Do not judge a song by its duration
Nor by the number of its notes

Judge it by the richness of its contents

Sometimes those unfinished are among the most poignant…

Do not judge a song by its duration
Nor by the number of its notes

Judge it by the way it touches and lifts the soul

Sometimes those unfinished are among the most beautiful…

And when something has enriched your life
And when it’s melody lingers on in your heart.

Is it unfinished?

Or is it endless?
Author Unknown