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 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 the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant…
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
…Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you – for an interval – somewhere near
just around the corner.
All is well.
Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
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