Poems
A FALLEN LIMB
A limb has fallen from the family tree.
I keep hearing a voice that says, "Grieve not for me.
Remember the best times, the laughter, the song.
The good life I lived while I was strong.
Continue my heritage, I'm counting on you.
Keep smiling and surely the sun will shine through.
My mind is at ease, my soul is at rest.
Remembering all, how I truly was blessed.
Continue traditions, no matter how small.
Go on with your life, don't worry about falls
I miss you all dearly, so keep up your chin.
Until the day comes we're together again
– Author unknown
Letter from Heaven
When tomorrow starts without me,
and I’m not here to see,
if the sun should rise and find your eyes,
filled with tears for me.
I wish so much you wouldn’t cry,
the way you did today,
while thinking of the many things,
we didn’t get to say.
I know how much you love me,
as much as I love you,
and each time you think of me,
I know you’ll miss me too.
When tomorrow starts without me,
don’t think we’re far apart,
for every time you think of me,
I’m right there in your heart.
Afterglow
I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.Unknown
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 own 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 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,
Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral (1847 – 1918)
Funeral blues
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 forever: 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.
WH Auden, poet (1907 – 1973)
THE LOUNGE OF DEPARTURE
I wait in the Lounge of Departure,
I know not the time of my flight.
I hope it 's some way in the future
But it could be I'm flying tonight.
The flight I await goes to Heaven
I know that it' s lovely up there,
For I've read their fine brochure-the Bible
And I speak to them oft in my Prayer.
It costs very little to go there,
You take nothing with you at all,
And you pay by the way you behave every day
As you wait for St Peter to call.
As I wait for the start of my journey
There are so many things I can see,
Like someone in need of a word or a deed,
So I do what's expected of me.
And I wait in the Lounge of Departure,
Never too sure when I fly,
But I hope when I do,
There's a chance I'll meet you,
We can all pay the fare if we try.
The Old Farmers Song
At the edge of the world, I graze my sheep, where storm clouds swirl, and the valley cuts deep I’ve farmed this land for eighty odd years, calloused my hands on shovels and shears.
Raised my cattle as best I could, a constant battle in thick bog mud, But a soaring hawk, a hard on the run, an early walk with the rising sun, A horse's flanks as they heave and steam, frost on the banks of a snow- melt stream. Make my old heart beat to the rhythm of the farm, the low pig grunts and the cows in the barn,
I’ll be in these hills, and I’ll sing this song.
Road To Eternity
Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey’ quicker,
For some the journey‘s slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the Lord.
For those I love
For those who love me...
When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do.
You mustn't tie yourself to me with tears.
Be happy that we had so many years.
I gave 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 alone.’
So grieve a while for me, if grieve you must.
Then.., let your grief be comforted by trust.
lt’s only for a while that we must part.
So bless the memories that lie within your heart.
So if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can ’t see or touch me, I’ll be near.
And if you listen with your heart, you’ll 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 Welcome Home !
