Poem Book

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A colllection of Poems, Quotes & Prayers for Eulogies

2
Rona Wynne
Tomkins
5.3.1910 ~ 9.9.2006
The best and most
beautiful things
in the world
cannot be seen
or even touched.
They must be felt
with the heart.
The reality
of my life
cannot die,
for I am
indestructible
consciousness.
from Metaphysical Meditations
Paramahansa Yogananda
Thank you everyone
for supporting the
celebration of
Ronas life,
her smile will live
on in our hearts. .
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Fred Bourke
13th April 1926 ~ 30th September 2006
With the wind behind me, lling my sails
and the spray of the ocean on my face,
I sail on towards the sunset,
now Ive nished my lifelong race.
I sail on, my journey,
this journey after life,
I leave behind my children,
and my beloved child bride wife.
But weep not for me,
I have not one regret.
My life was full of pleasures
with all of you whom I met.
This time has come, it had to be,
Before you here I lie.
Rejoice and remember the times we had
I thank you, and now,
Goodbye.
Our family would

like to thank you
for attending the
funeral service today
It is a comfort to
know that we are
surrounded by
the love and thoughts
of relatives and friends
who join with us
as we reect,
pay tribute and share
our memories of
Fred Bourke.
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Order of Service
Music introit Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D minor Albinoni
Te Words of Christ
I am the resurrection and the life;
Tose who believe in me, though they die,
Yet shall they live;
And whoever lives and believes in me,
Shall never die. ( John 11: 25-26 )
Introduction
Friends, we gather today to give thanks for the life of Francis Milton King, whomwe know
as Frank.
And we gather to armthe Christian conviction that while death is the end of human life,
it marks a new beginning in our relationship with God.
We are also here to share the sadness of family: Dorothy, Dave Lesley, Hilary and Barry,
Emma and Josh and friends who mourn and to oer everyone our love and support.
Now that Frank has been taken from amongst us, we turn to our memories. Memory en-
ables us to recall many things, many blessings and to give thanks for them. Memory draws
us close to loved ones.
A Celebration of Franks life
Prayer
Te 23rd Psalm
Te Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
For his names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;
Ty rod and thy sta they comfort me.
Tou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head
with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, for ever.
Tribute from Kaye Harrold and Emma King
Music and placing of oral tributes
Die Weisse Dame Albinini sung by Fritz Wunderlich
Reading: John 14: 1-6; 18-19; 27
Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Fathers house
are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you?
And when I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am, you may be also.
And you know the way where I am going.
But Tomas said to him: Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know
the way?
Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by
me. I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live you
will live also;
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Reection
Prayer
Te Committal
Into the freedom of the wind and sunshine, we let you go.
Into the dance of the stars and the hands of the Creator, we let you go. Go safely!
Tose who are in Christ are a new creation, the old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come! 2 Cor 5:17-18
Prayer
Blessing
May God who is present in the sunrise and in the nightfall, guide you as you go.
May Christ who knows the nature of your journey, enfold you in his grace.
And may the Spirit who lights your pathway, be with you in the places where you rest, be
with you in your waiting and set the blessing of God upon your rising up.
Amen
Music Concerto in D Minor Largo, ma non tanto J.S.Bach
A Celebration of Franks Life.
29th November 1917 ~ 8th November 2006
Tank you for attending
the funeral service today.
Youre welcome to join us
for refreshments
at 45 Tate Street South Perth.
Francis Milton King
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Welcome and Introduction
Celebrant, Tamara Cohen
Eulogy
Friend, Greg Joyce
Personal Letters
Friend, Marion Hogg
Refection
Strength, Courage and Love
Daughter, Heide Newton
Reading
Celebrant, Tamara Cohen
Conclusion
You are welcome to join us in the lounge
for light refreshments until 12 oclock.
Music
Entry: Only Time, Enya. Reection: Greenwaves, Dreamcatcher.
Exit: Youll Never Walk Alone, Barbara Streisand.
Elizabeth Rae Daly
A caring, loyal and courageous lady.
An inspiration to us all.
God looked around His garden and found an empty place.
He then looked down upon His Earth and saw your loving face.
He put His arms around you and lifted you to rest.
His garden must be beautiful, He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering, He knew you were in pain.
And knew that you would never get well on Earth again.
He saw your path was difcult, He closed your tired eyes,
He whispered to you Peace be Thine and gave you wings to y.
When we saw you sleeping so calm and free of pain,
We would not wish you back to Earth to suffer once again.
Youve left us precious memories, your love will be our guide,
You live on through your children, youre always by our side.
It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you on the day God called you home.
Anon
In Loving Memory of
22nd September 1948 - 26th August 2006
Elizabeth Rae Daly
Thank you to every-one for helping us to give

Elizabeth such a special goodbye.
You will never know how grateful we are for your support.
Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for your love
and kind words of sympathy during this difcult time.
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I say love it is a ower
and you its only seed
Just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the suns love
in the spring
becomes the rose
Loving wife to Mal for 32 years.
Caring mother to Steve, Phil and Neil.
May you rest in peace.
Marie Ann Berrick
11.07.1949 ~ 22.10.2006
Mal and family would like
to thank you for your
expressions of sympathy
and love shown to us all.
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Each pack includes:
A deluxe box
Personalised box sleeve
4 page A5 booklet based
on your choice from our
existing templates
Attendance cards
(110mm x 90mm)
Remembrance cards
(110mm x 90mm, kept by
funeral guests)
All items are printed on
quality 250gsm satin card
Standard deluxe design,
comprising of 2 pictures
and text supplied by you

Graphic Source Poem Book
General Quotes ................................................................

Longer Quotes Suitable for Eulogies .................................
General Poems .................................................................
Poems for Children and Young People ..............................
Poems for Those Who Have Been Unwell .........................
Poems for Soldiers and Returned Servicemen. .................
Poems for Mum and Grandmother ...................................
Poems for Her .................................................................. .
Poems for Fathers and Grandads. ....................................
Poems for Him .................................................................
A Poem for a Husband .....................................................

Poems for Those Who Have Taken Their Own Life. ...........
Miscellaneous Poems. ......................................................
Christian Prayers Suitable for Funerals ..............................
Bible Readings Suitable for a Christian Funeral .................
4
Keep away from people who try to belittle your
ambitions. Small people always do that, but
the really great make you feel that you, too, can
become great.
Mark Twain
When one door of happiness closes, another
opens but we often look so long at the closed
door that we do not see the one which has been
opened for us.
Anon
It is far easier to be wise for someone else than to
be wise for oneself.
Anon
. As long as they did it to us remains part of our
thinking, we wont nd the identity and joy and
satisfaction in life we are seeking.
Anon.
To move ahead requires that we not only let go
of our anger but that we distance ourselves from
others who are angry, accusatory and who have
made themselves victims of their own beliefs.
Anon
It takes a special type of courage to face what we
have to face.
Anon
We have to stop playing the role of poor us and
create a new model for ourselves - that of a loving,
creating powerful and abundant adult.
Anon
The only thing we can safely trust is our ability to
handle what ever anyone says or does to us.
Anon
.
We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or y, but let us
never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or
miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.
Gloria Gather
If we perceive our mates as human beings who
dont always follow our script, we can keep an
open heart. If we have fairy tale expectations,
our hearts will be broken and it is hard to x
them again.
Anon
Pointing a nger is a powerless act - the only real
power lies in taking control of our reactions to
whatever life hands us.
Anon
What ever happens in life, Ill handle it.
Anon
No one has the power to irritate me unless I allow
it. I focus my mind upon my highest good and feel
this inspire me.
Anon
. All men and women are born, live suffer and die;
what distinguishes us one from another is our
dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly
or unworldly things, and what we do to make
them come about.
Anon
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose
our parents. We do not choose to die; nor do
we choose the time and conditions of our death.
But within the realm of choicelessness, we do
choose how we live.
Joseph Epstein
The secret of health for both mind and body is
not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the
future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in
the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha
Anything that fries to burn my heart will be denied
and anything and all that weighs me down I will
gladly cast aside.
Anon
Your success is only limited by your desires.
Anon
Do not blindly believe what others say. See for
yourself what brings contentment, clarity and
peace. That is the path for you to follow.
Anon
A man becomes what he thinks about most of
the time.
Anon
More learning translates into more earning.
Anon
I have seen the enemy and he looks just
like me.
Anon
If you believe that you can do a thing, or if you
believe you can not, in either case you are right.
Anon
. If you went to make enemies, try to change
something.
Pres. Woodrow Wilson
A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
but after a while he knows something.
Anon
Anybody can become angry. That is not difcult:
but to be angry with the right person and to the
right degree, and at the right time, and for the right
purpose and in the right way: that is not within
everybodys capability end it Is not easy
Aristotle
To live is to suffer, to survive is to nd meaning
in the suffering.
Victor Frankl
4 5
There are as many nights as days, and the one
is just as long as the other in the years course.
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure
of darkness, and the word happy would lose its
meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It
far better to take things as they come along with
patience and equanimity
Jung
Twenty years from now you will be more
disappointed by the things that you didnt do than
by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade
winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain, 1835-1910 American Author
The highest wisdom is kindness.
The Talmud
There comes a time in some relationships when
no matter how sincere the attempt to reconcile
the differences or how strong the wish to recreate
a part of the past once shared, the struggle
becomes so painful that nothing else is felt and
the world and all its beauty only add to the
discomfort by providing cruel contrast.
David Viscott
Existence is pure joy, and if one does not see
that, ones perception is wrong.
Anon
To recount the journey of someones life, to do
them justice, you really have to have traveled
with them.
Anon
. It is my hope that when you face your own death,
or the death of someone you love, you will take
enough time to slow down.
Carolyn Pogue
We dont need more money, we dont need
greater success or fame, we dont need the
perfect body or even the perfect mate. Right
now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which
is all the basic equipment we need to achieve
complete happiness.
Dalai Lama
Unless we can hear each other singing and crying,
unless we can comfort each others failures and
cheer each others victories, we are missing out on
the best that life has to offer. The only real action
takes place on the bridge between people.
Anon
In our daily lives, we must see that it is not
happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness
that makes us happy. -
Albert Clarke
Is this who I am, what would love do now?
Neale Donald Walcsh
If we are to teach real peace in this world, and
we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall
have to begin with the children.
Mahatma Gandhi
. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone
Neale Donald Walcsh
. Dont be afraid in your life to s-t-r-e-t-c-h, Reach
higher than your grasp. lt may seem scary at rst
but youll come to enjoy it.
Neale Donald Walcsh
. It may be that when we no longer know what to
do, we have come to our real work, and when we
no longer know which way to go, we have begun
our real journey.
Wendell Berry
. No one can persuade another to change. Each
of us guards a gate of change that can only be
opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate
of another, either by argument or by emotional
appeal.
M Ferguson
.. Between stimulus and response, man has the
freedom to choose.
Victor Frankl
. Response-ability, the ability to choose your
response.
Anon
. I am what I am today because of the choices I
made yesterday.
Anon
. Its not what happens to us but our response to
what happens to us that hurts us. Of cse things
can hurt us physically or economically, and can
cause sorrow, but our character, our best identity,
does not have to be hurt at all.
Steven Covey
. You cannot talk yourself out of problems you
have behaved your way into.
Steven Covey
. The most important ingredient we put into any
relationship is not what we say or do, but who
we are.
Steven Covey
One persons mission is another persons minutia.
Anon
Action will change your attitude, motion will
change your emotions, movement will change
your moods.
Anon
Its not what you do the same as everyone else
that matters its what you do differently.
Anon
6
Often the difference between success and
failure is not ones better abilities or ideas, but the
courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take
the calculated risk and to act.
Dr Maxwell Maltz
. Its your attitude not your aptitude that determines
your altitude.
Zig Zigler
A rut is just a cofn with the ends knocked out.
Anon
Flow around obstacles, dont confront them.
Dont struggle to succeed. Wait for the right
moment.
Lao Tsu.
Pushing through fear is less frightening than
living with the underlying fear that comes from the
feeling of helplessness.
Susan Jeffers.
Fear is an indicator that you are reaching your
limits. It is a green light to keep going. If you are
not feeling any fear, you may not be growing. Dont
delay the trepidation, but take the step anyway.
Ships are not designed to stay in the harbor.
Susan Jeffers
Often the difference between a success and
failure is not ones better abilities or ideas, but the
courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take
the calculated risk and to act
Dr Maxwell Maltz.
You must re-educate yourself to accept fear as a
necessary part of growth, then move on. 90% of
what we worry about never eventuates.
Anon
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision
into reality.
Warren G. Bennis
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action
without vision just passes the time. Vision with
action can change the world.
Joel Barker.
One of the biggest fears that keeps us from
moving ahead with our lives is our difculty in
making decisions. The irony of course is that by
not choosing we are choosing.
Susan Jeffers.
. If you dont create your own future, someone
else will.
Anon
Remember, there are never any trafc jams on
the extra mile.
Anon
Truth can be denied but it cant be avoided.
Anon
Your life only gets better when you get better.
Anon
Condence....thrives only on honesty, on honor,
on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful
protection and on unselsh performance. Without
them, it cannot live.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
I learned that good judgment comes from
experience and that experience grows out of
mistakes.
Omar Bradley
I have yet to nd the man, however exalted his
station, who did not do better work and put forth
greater effort under a spirit of approval than under
a spirit of criticism.
Charles Schwab
Brave people apologise - weak people dont.
Anon
Keep on going and the chances are you will
stumble on something, perhaps when you are
least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone
stumbling on something sitting down.
Charles F. Kettering
I have learned over the years that when ones
mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing
what must be done does away with fear.
Rosa Parks
. When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health
is lost, something is lost; when character is lost,
all is lost.
Billy Graham
If you dont take time for being healthy, youll
eventually have to make time for being sick.
Wayne Dwyer
Optimism means expecting the best, but
condence means knowing how to handle the
worst. Never make a move if you are merely
optimistic.
The Zurich Axioms
The state of your life is nothing more than a
reection of your state of mind.
Dr. Wayne Dyer
Where are my thoughts taking me? You cant
escape the accumulated effect of your attitude.
It is to let the past over whelm you rather than let
it instruct you.
Anon
A grateful person is a powerful person, for
gratitude generates power. All abundance is
based on being grateful for what we have.
Elizabeth Kubler Ross.
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The quality of my life is the quality of your personal
communications with yourself and others.
Tony Robbins.
7% of communications is words, 38% is tonealty,
55% is physiogolgy - facial expressions, body
language.
Tony Robbins.
Being defeated is often a temporary condition.
Giving up is what makes it permanent.
Marilyn Vos Savant
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect
before which difculties disappear and obstacles
vanish.
John Quincy Adams
.. In the middle of difculty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
If you let conditions stop you from working, theyll
always stop you.
James T. Farrell
Our only limitations are those which we set up in
our minds or permit others to establish for us.
Elizabeth Arden
The Big Shots Are only the Little Shots Who keep
on Shooting.
Christopher Morley
We must either nd a way or make one.
Hannibal
The universe is full of magical things, waiting for
our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Philpotts
Success is never nal and failure never fatal. Its
courage that counts.
Anon
Everyone has the need to contribute. It is one of
the six human needs. If you give from your heart,
it will come back to you tenfold.
Tony Robbins
Courage is going from failure to failure without
losing enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
In life it is hard. Youre either in a problem,
heading toward one or just left one.
Anon
. Every single life only becomes great when the
individual sets upon a goal or goals which they
really believe in, which they can really commit
themselves to, which they can put their whole
heart and soul into.
Brian Tracy
. Fail to plan?......then plan to fail.
Anon
The successful always has a number of projects
planned, to which he looks forward. Anyone
of them could change the course of his life
overnight.
Mark Caine
I believe that persistent effort, supported by a
character-based foundation, will enable you to
get more of the things money will buy and all of
the things money wont buy.
Zig Ziglar
When the WHY gets stronger, the how gets
easier.
Jim Rohn
Life is not measured by the number of breaths
we take, but by the moments that take our breath
away.
Anon
Money talksbut chocolate sings!
Anon
Id rather take action and fail at something than
do nothing, and succeed.
Anon
. You move in the direction of your most positive
thoughts.
Anon
. If the only exercise you get is from jumping to
conclusions, then go join a gym.
Anon
.. Think the perfect result for long enough and it
will come.
Anon
. No one who is good at making excuses is also
good at making money. The skills are mutually
exclusive.
Anon
. To celebrate life you have to life it. To live life you
have to experience all of it.
Erin Devore
. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is
not enough; we must do.
Johann Goethe
. Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the
fact remains that it is not possible to live a really
complete or successful life unless one is rich.
Wallace D. Wattles
. Your enemy and what you retaliate against, are
actually products of your own mind
Dalai Lama
. Without inner mental stability, or the right mental
attitude, one cannot be happy, calm or at peace,
even if one is surrounded by the best of friends or
the best of facilities.
Dalai Lama
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8
. You cant do good business with a bad man.
Zig Zigler
. Say not in grief he is no more but live in
thankfulness that he was
Hebrew proverb
. Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a mystery
and today is a gift, which is why it is called the
present
Anon
.. What the caterpillar perceives is the end, to the
buttery is just the beginning
Anon
. Everything that has a beginning has an ending.
Make your peace with that and all will be well
Buddist saying
. There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such
a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest
exterior there is a drama, a comedy and a
tragedy
Mark Twain, The refuge of the Derelicts 1905
. Sometimes, when one person is missing, the
whole world seems depopulated.
Lamartine
. The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words
left unsaid and deeds left undone.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
. As men, we are all equal in the presence of
death
Publilius Syrus
. When you were born, you cried and the world
rejoiced. Live you life in a manner so that when
you die the world cries and you rejoice.
Native American Proverb
. Though Heaven & Earth divide us and the
distance seems a lot there is a ower that bloomed
between us its called the Forget-me-not
Anon
. Let us so live that when we come to die even
the undertaker will be sorry.
Mark Twain
.. It is not length of life, but depth of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
. Death is more universal than life; everyone dies
but not everyone lives.
A.Sachs
. Do not fear death so much, but rather the
inadequate life.
Bertolt Brecht
. There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy
the interval.
George Santayana
. They say such nice things about people at their
funerals that it makes me sad to realize that Im
going to miss mine by just a few days.
Garrison Keillor
. Its only when we truly know and understand
that we have a limited time on earth -- and that we
have no way of knowing when our time is up, we
will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if
it was the only one we had.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
. It is not the end of the physical body that should
worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live
while were alive, to release our inner selves from
the spiritual death that comes with living behind a
facade designed to conform to external denitions
of who and what we are.
. The grave is but a covered bridge, leading from
light to light, through a brief darkness.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
. For those who seek to understand it, death is a
highly creative force. The highest spiritual values
of life can originate from the thought and study
of death
. Death is the great clarier; it shows us what is
important.
.. For any culture which is primarily concerned
with meaning, the study of death, the only
certainty that life holds for us must be central, for
an understanding of death is the key to liberation
in life.
Stanislav Grof
. For a man who has done his natural duty, death
is as natural as sleep.
George Santayana
. Good men must die, but death cannot kill their
names.
The Bible
. Death is simply a shedding of the physical
body like the buttery shedding its cocoon. It is
a transition to a higher state of consciousness
where you continue to perceive, to understand,
to laugh, and to be able to grow.
. Ive told my children that when I die, to release
balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated.
For me, death is a graduation.
. We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the
moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may
be so the moment after death.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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.. Because I could not stop for death, He kindly
stopped for me; The carriage held but just
ourselves and immortality.
Emily Dickinson
.. Death comes to all. But great achievements
build a monument which shall endure until the
sun grows cold.
George Fabricius
.. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love
leaves a memory no one can steal.
Anon
.. The beauty of the soul shines out when a man
bears with composure one heavy mischance after
another, not because he does not feel them, but
because he is a man of high and heroic temper.
Aristotle
... The courage of life is often a less dramatic
spectacle than the courage of the nal moment;
but it is no less a magnicent mixture of triumph
and tragedy.
John F. Kennedy
.. The length of your education is less important
than its breadth, and the length of your life is less
important than its depth.
Marilyn vos Savant
.. The question is not whether we will die, but how
we will live.
Joan Borysenko
.. In the great scheme of things, what matters is
not how long you live, but why you live, what you
stand for, and what you are willing to die for.
Paul Watson
.. No ones death comes to pass without making
some impression, and those close to the
deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and
become richer in their humanness.
Hermann Broch
.. Those who love deeply never grow old; they
may die of old age, but they die young.
A. W. Pinero
. To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
Clyde Campbell
. Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a mystery
and today is a gift, which is why it is called the
present.
Anon
. What the caterpillar perceives is the end, to the
buttery is just the beginning.
Anon
. Everything that has a beginning has an ending.
Make your peace with that and all will be well.
Buddist saying
.. There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a
thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior
there is a drama, a comedy and a tragedy.
Mark Twain
. When we come into contact with the precarious
nature of this life we also see its preciousness and
then it makes us not want to waste a moment.
Anon
. May you have food and raiment, A soft pillow
for your head, May you be forty years in heaven,
before the devil knows youre dead.
Old Irish Toast
. If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be
a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live
without you.
Winnie the Pooh
. And I have learned that there is not much
difference in the storms. But the difference is in
the power to withstand, to rise up again and to
move onto a higher level than you were before
the storm hit you. So were not victims when we
live by faith, never! We become the conquerors.
R Schuller
. While we are mourning the loss of our friend,
others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil.
J Taylor
. You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest
that it leaves your arms too full to embrace
the present.
J Gildewell
. Memory is a way of holding onto the things you
love, the things you are, the things you never
want to lose.
Anon
. Its so curious: one can resist tears and behave
very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then
someone makes you a friendly sign behind
a window, or one notices that a ower that
was in bud only yesterday has suddenly
blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... then
everything collapses.
Collete
. No matter how rich you become, how famous
or powerful, when you die the size of your funeral
will still pretty much depend on the weather.
M Pritchard
.. Give sorrow words. The grief that does not
speak, whispers the oer fraught heart and bids
it break.
W. Shakespeare.
. The song is ended, but the melody lingers
on...
Irving Berlin
.. Grief is not forever but love is.
Anon
. Death ends a life, not a relationship.
Jack Lemmon
. Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
William Wallace
. If man hasnt discovered something that he will
die for, he isnt t to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
. Neither re nor wind, birth nor death can erase
our good deeds.
Buddha
. For what is to die, but to stand in the sun and melt
into the wind? And when the Earth has claimed
our limbs, then we shall truly dance.
Kahlil Gibran
. How far you go in life depends on your being
tender with the young,compassionate with the
aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant
of the weak and strong. Because someday in
your life you will have been all of these.
George Washington Carver
. It is not death, but dying, which is terrible.
Henry Fieldin
. Its not that Im afraid to die. I just dont want to be
there when it happens.
Woody Allen
.. I do not believe that any man fears to be dead,
but only the stroke of death.
Francis Bacon
., ,
. In the presence of death, we must continue to sing
the song of life. We must be able to accept death
and go from its presence better able to bear our
burdens and to lighten the load of others. Out of
our sorrows should come understanding. Through
our sorrows, we join with all of those before who
have had to suffer and all of those who will yet
have to do so. Let us not be gripped by the fear
of death. If another day be added to our lives,
let us joyfully receive it, but let us not anxiously
depend on our tomorrows. Though we grieve the
deaths of our loved ones, we accept them and
hold on to our memories as precious gifts. Let us
make the best of our loved ones while they are
with us, and let us not bury our love with death.
Seneca
. When I am dead, cry for me a little, think of me
sometimes, but not too much. It is not good for
you to allow your thoughts to dwell too long upon
the dead. Think of me now and again as I was in
life, at some moment which is pleasant to recall,
but not for too long. Leave me in peace, as I shall
too leave you in peace. While you live, let your
thoughts be with the living.
Anon
. To laugh often and much, to win the respect of
intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to
endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate
beauty; to nd the best in others; to leave the
world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a
garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to
know even one life has breathed easier because
you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)
.. We all suffer some unavoidable losses. People
we love die, close friends move away, and,
despite our best efforts, some of the venture we
undertake dont work out. Whats a person to do
when he or she suffers a bad break? We can
complain, but fussing doesnt change anything. If
we accept our losses, we grieve by crying about
them. Crying doesnt help either. thats why we
cry - because nothing helps. but grieving does
allow us to bury our dead and to get beyond our
disappointments. This leaves room in our hearts
that we may be able to ll with love for someone
else or hope for some new undertaking, but we
cannot hurry our pain to rush our willingness to
begin anew. We need to move on in our lives in
search of whatever is available that makes us
happy, but a major loss leaves a hole in our hearts
- a hole that can never be completely relled.
Sheldon Kopp
. The human race is alone; but individual men
need not be alone, because we have each
other. We are brothers without a father; let us
all the more for that behave brotherly to each
other. ...The nest chievement for humanity is
to recognize our predicament, including our
insecurity and our coming extinction, and to
maintain our cheerfulness and love and decency
in spite of it, to prosecute our ideals in spite of it.
We have good things to contemplate and high
things to do. Let us do them.
Richard Robinson
The River
In the early days of our great country, a father and
his young son were making a journey into the
nearby village to acquire some tools and supplies.
Starting early in the morning, the two set forth
on their assignment. To reach their destination,
they had to cross a narrow stream and proceed
through the woods, the countryside, and nally into
the center of town. After completing their mission,
10
they began their return trip home. As they walked
along, a severe thunderstorm erupted. With the
heavy downpour of water, the stream that was
virtually nonexistent in the morning swelled to
twice its size, and the waters swirled viciously
against tree roots and rocks and rolled furiously
downstream. Fear rose within the child and the
wise father offered to carry his son. Into the
open arms of the father climbed the youngster,
and experiencing safety and security, he quickly
fell asleep in his fathers strong and protective
arms. On arriving home, the father placed the
sleeping child into bed. In the morning, with the
sun shining through the windows, the youngster
awoke in pleasant and comfortable surroundings.
Safe, comfortable and content, no longer fearful,
he inquired, Am I home? Did my father carry me
across the raging waters? His mother responded
with, Yes, my child, your father brought you
safely home. You are in your room in your fathers
house, snug and unharmed. So it will be with
each of us as we cross the river and awaken in
a special room in a very special house.
Author Unknown
Friends
When we honestly ask ourselves which person
in our lives means the most us, we often nd
that it is those who, instead of giving much
advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather
to share our pain and touch our wounds with
a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can
be silent with us in a moment of despair or
confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of
grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not
knowing, not curing, not healing and face with
us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a
friend who cares.
- Henri Nouwen
The Truth About Failure
Failure doesnt mean you are a failure . . . it does
mean you havent succeeded yet. Failure doesnt
mean you have accomplished nothing . . . it
does mean you have learned something. Failure
doesnt mean you have been a fool . . . it does
mean you had a lot of faith. Failure doesnt mean
you have been disgraced . . . it does mean you
were willing to try. Failure doesnt mean you dont
have it . . . it does mean you have to do something
in a different way. Failure doesnt mean you are
inferior . . . it does mean you are not perfect.
Failure doesnt mean youve wasted your life . .
. it does mean youve a reason to start afresh.
Failure doesnt mean you should give up . . . it
does mean you should try harder. Failure doesnt
mean youll never make it . . . it does mean it
will take a little longer. Failure doesnt mean God
has abandoned you . . . it does mean God has a
better idea!
Robert Schuller,
House Building
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told
his employer contractor of his plans to leave the
house-building business and live a more leisurely
life with his wife enjoying his extended family.
He would miss the paycheck, but he needed
to retire. They could get by. The contractor was
sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he
could build just one more house as a personal
favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was
easy to see that his heart was not in his work.
He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used
inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end
a dedicated career. When the carpenter nished
his work the employer came to inspect the house.
He handed the front-door key to the carpenter.
This is your house, he said, My gift to you?
The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he
had only known he was building his own house,
he would have done it all so differently. So it is with
us. We build our lives a day at a time often putting
less than our best into the building. Then with a
shock we realize we have to live in the house we
have built. If we could do it over, wed do it much
differently. But we cannot go back. You are the
carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place
a board, or erect a wall. Life is a do-it-yourself
project? someone has said. Your attitudes and
the choices you make today build the house
you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!
Author unknown
An Echo . . . or Life
A son and his father were walking in the
mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself
and screams, Ahhhh! To his surprise, he hears
his voice repeating, somewhere in the mountains,
Ahhhh! He looks to his father and asks, Whats
going on? His father smiles and says, My son,
pay attention. and he screams to the mountain,
I admire you. The voice answers: I admire you.
Again the man screams, You are a champion?
The voice answers, You are a champion? The
boy is surprised but does not understand. Then
the father explains, People call this an echo,
but really this is life. It gives you back everything
you say and do. Our lives are a reection of our
actions. If you want more love in the world, create
more love in your heart. If you want competency in
your team, improve your own competence. This
relationship applies to everything, in all aspects
of life: Life will give you back everything you have
given to it?
Author unknown
Which Are You Feeding?
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about
life. A ght is going on inside me, he said to
the boy, It is a terrible ght and it is between
11
12
two wolves. One is evil-he is anger, envy,
sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt,
resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority,
and ego. The other is good-he is joy, peace, love,
hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,
empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and
faith. This same ght is going on inside you-and
inside every other person, too. The grandson
thought about it for a minute and then asked
his grandfather, Which wolf will win? The old
Cherokee simply replied, The one you feed.
Author unknown
A Living Sermon
I would rather see a sermon, than hear one any
day. Id rather one should walk with me, than
merely show the way. I can soon learn how
to do it, if you let me see it done. I can watch
your hands in action, but your tongue too fast
may run. And the sermons you deliver, may
be very good and true, But Id rather learn my
lesson, by observing what you do. I may not
understand you, and the high advice you give.
But there is no misunderstanding, how you ACT
and how you LIVE.
Anon
Dont Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road your trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if
you must but dont you quit. Life is queer with its
twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes
learns, And many a failure turns about, When we
might have won had we stuck it out. Dont give
up though the pace seems slow, You may well
succeed with another blow. Success is failure
turned inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of
doubt And you never can tell just how close you
are, It may be near when it seems so far. So stick
to the ght when your hardest hit, Its when things
seem worst that you must not quit.
Anon
I Wish You Enough
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude
bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the
sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep
your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that
the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I
wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I
wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you
possess. I wish you enough hellos to get you
through the nal good-bye.
Anon

In Our Hearts
We thought of you with love today. But that is
nothing new. We thought about you yesterday.
And days before that too. We think of you in
silence. We often speak your name. Now all we
have is memories. And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake. With which well
never part. God has you in his keeping. We have
you in our heart..
Author unknown
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone young or
old alike, and today may be the last chance to
hold your loved one tight. So if you are waiting for
tomorrow, why not do it today? For if tomorrow
never comes, you will surely regret the day, you
did not take the extra time for a smile, a hug, or
a kiss. You were just too busy to grant them their
one last wish. So hold your loved ones close
today, whisper in their ear. Tell them how much
you love them and youll always hold them dear.
And if tomorrow never comes, you will have no
regrets about today.
Anon
Angels
When you were born, an angel smiled, As you
became a child, an angel sat on your shoulder
When you became an adult, an angel held your
hand As you grew old, an angel walked down the
road with you, And, when you died, another angel
got their wings.
Unknown
Memories Build a Special Bridge
Our memories build a special bridge when loved
ones have to part to help us feel were with them
still and sooth a grieving heart. Our memories
span the years we shared, preserving ties that
bind, They build a special bridge of love and bring
us peace of mind.
Emily Matthews
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Natures rst green is gold, Her hardest hue
to hold Her early leafs a ower; But only so an
hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank
to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold
can stay.
Robert Frost (1875-1963)
12
Spring Thaw
Not that winter seemed so long, --
We were content together, --
Our home was warm with love, it could
Withstand the ercest weather.
Yet sometimes we would speak of spring,
Anticipate the greening
On all the views we loved so well,
Now touched with greater meaning.
Today I walk in early spring
As memories come welling...
And oh, to see a crocus bloom
And you not here for telling!
Lee Avery Reed
In life there is no certainty, No guarantees are
given at birth, No promise of longevity or fairness
in our time on earth. Length in years is not a
way to measure what a life is worth, The buttery
lives only days, but soars to heights with grace
and mirth.
Anon
Hold onto what is good, even if it is only a handful
of earth. Hold onto what you believe, even if it
is a tree which stands by itself. Hold onto what
you must do, even if it is a long way from here.
Hold onto Life, even when it is easier letting go.
Hold onto my hand, even when I have gone away
from you.
Native American saying
Love Lives On
Those we love are never really lost to us - we feel
them in so many special ways- through friends
they always cared about and dreams they left
behind, in beauty that they added to our days...
in words of wisdom we still carry with us and
memories that never will be gone... Those we
love are never really lost to us - For everywhere
their special love lives on.
A. Bradley
Farewell
Farewell to Thee! But not farewell To all my
fondest thoughts of Thee; Within my heart they
still shall dwell And they shall cheer and comfort
me. Life seems more sweet that Thou didst live
And men more true Thou wert one; Nothing is lost
that Thou didst give, Nothing destroyed that Thou
hast done.
Anne Bronte 1820-1849
Say not, they die, those splendid souls, Whose
life is winged with purpose ne; Who leave us,
pointed to the goals; Who learn to conquer and
resign. Such cannot die; they vanquish time,
And ll the world with glowing light, Making the
human life sublime With memories of their secret
might. They cannot die whose lives are part Of
the great life that is to be; Whose hearts beat
with the worlds great heart, And throb with its
high intensity. Those souls are great, who, dying,
gave A gift of greater life to man; Death stands
abashed before the brave; They own a life death
cannot ban.
Anon
. It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life
doesnt lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy
lies in having no goal to reach. It is not a calamity
to die with dreams unfullled. But it is a calamity
not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable
to capture your ideal, But it is a disaster to no
ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach
the stars. But it is a disgrace not to have stars to
reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin.
Dr Benjamin Elijah Mays 1894-1984
The Broken Chain
I little knew that morning. God was going to call
your name, In life I loved you dearly, in death I do
the same. It broke my heart to loose you, you did
not go alone, for part of me went with you, the
day God called you home. You left me beautiful
memories your love is still my guide, and though
we cannot see you, youre always at my side.
Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the
same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain
will link again.
Anon
Youre Free At Last
A brief candle; both ends burning An endless
mile; a bus wheel turning A friend to share the
lonesome times A handshake and a sip of wine
So say it loud and let it ring We are all a part of
everything The future, present and the past Fly on
proud bird Youre free at last.
C. Daniels
The Stranger
Death will the body And the bodys hope of time;
Death will undo Faith that depends upon anothers
word And has not felt the re Credulity that passes
for belief, The airy gallantry, the fantasies Of the
enthusing spirit, Promise and pretension and
pretences-- Death will undo all these. All these
are gossamer. There yet remains
13
14
The indestructible principle, the stranger, Little
regarded in the masque of life, But now, as blood
turns cold, One by whose eye we see Essential
things, One by whose nature We know ourselves
undying, One by whose word, had we but heeded
it, We might have understood much earlier What
only now we know. Death frees the stranger in
us. He is I.
Anon
If I Knew
If I knew it would be the last time That Id see
you fall asleep, would tuck you in more tightly and
pray the Lord, your soul to keep. If I knew it would
be the last time that I see you walk out the door, I
would give you a hug and kiss and call you back
for one more. If I knew it would be the last time Id
hear your voice lifted up in praise, I would video
tape each action and word, so I could play them
back day after day. If I knew it would be the last
time, I could spare an extra minute to stop and
say I love you, instead of assuming you would
KNOW I do. If I knew it would be the last time I
would be there to share your day, Well Im sure
youll have so many more, so I can let just this
one slip away. For surely theres always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight, and we always get
a second chance to make everything just right.
There will always be another day to say I love
you, And certainly theres another chance to say
our Anything I can do? But just in case I might
be wrong, and today is all I get, Id like to say
how much I love you and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old
alike, And today may be the last chance you get
to hold your loved one tight. So if youre waiting
for tomorrow, why not do it today? For if tomorrow
never comes, youll surely regret the day, That you
didnt take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a
kiss and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish. So hold
your loved ones close today, and whisper in their
ear, Tell them how much you love them and that
youll always hold them dear Take time to say Im
sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, or Its
okay. And if tomorrow never comes, youll have
no regrets about today
Author unknown
The Reaper and the Flowers
There is a Reaper, whose name is Death, And,
with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain
at a breath, And the owers that grow between.
Shall I have naught that is fair? saith he; Have
naught but the bearded grain? Though the breath
of these owers is sweet to me, I will give them all
back again. He gazed at the owers with tearful
eyes, He kissed their drooping leaves; It was
for the Lord of Paradise He bound them in his
sheaves. My Lord has need of these owerets
gay, The Reaper said, and smiled; Dear tokens
of the earth are they, Where he was once a child.
They shall all bloom in elds of light, Transplanted
by my care, And saints, upon their garments
white, These sacred blossoms wear. And the
mother gave, in tears and pain, The owers she
most did love; She knew she should nd them all
again In the elds of light above. O, not in cruelty,
not in wrath, he Reaper came that day; T was
an angel visited the green earth, And took the
owers away.
H W Longfellow (1807-1882)
Every blade in the eld
Every leaf in the forest Lays down its life in the
season As beautifully as it is taken up
Thoreau
We never lose the ones we love,
For even though theyve gone, Within the hearts
of those who care, Their memory lingers on.
Author Unknown
Desiderata
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 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 it is clear to you or not, no doubt the
universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at
peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to
be, And whatever your labors and aspirations in
the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your
soul. With all its sham and drudgery and broken
dreams it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy
Max Ehrman
For What Is It To Die
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.
Kahil Gibran
14 15
When I Am Gone
When I am gone, release me - let me go I have
so many things to see and do. You must not tie
yourself to me with tears Be happy that we had so
many years. I gave you love, you can only guess,
how much you gave me in happiness. I thank you
for the love each have shown, but now it is time
I travelled alone. So grieve awhile for me if grieve
you must, then let your grief be comforted by trust
It is only for a while that we must part so bless
those memories within your heart. I will not be far
away, for life goes on. so if you need me, call and
I will come. Though you cannot see or touch me,
I will be near and if you listen with your heart, you
will hear All of my love around you, soft and clear.
Then when you must come this way alone, I will
greet you with a smile and Welcome Home
Anon
Poems in the First Person
When I Must Leave You When I must leave you
for a little while, Please do not grieve and shed
wild tears And hug your sorrow to you through
the years, But start out bravely with a smile. And
for my sake and in my name, Live on and do all
the things the same. Feed not your loneliness on
empty days, But ll each waking hour in useful
ways. Reach out your hand in comfort and in
cheer, And I, in turn, will comfort you and hold
you near. And never, never be afraid to die, For I
am waiting for you in the sky.
Helen Steiner Rice
I Have a Place in Heaven
I have a place in heaven Please dont sing sad
songs for me, Forget your grief and fears, For I
am in a perfect place Away from pain and tears.
Its far away from hunger And hurt and want and
pride, I have a place in Heaven With the Master
at my side. My life on earth was very good, As
earthly life can go, But Paradise is so much more
Than anyone can know. My heart is lled with
happiness And sweet rejoicing, too. To walk with
God is perfect peace, A joy forever new.
Author Unknown
Faith
You will not see me, so you must have faith. I wait
for the time when we can soar together again,
both aware of each other. Until then, live your life
to its fullest and when you need me,just whisper
my name in your heart, ...I will be there.
Emily Dickenson
Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep
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
sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn
rain. When you awaken in the mornings hush I
am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled
ight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not
stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did
not die.
Anon
If I Should Go Tomorrow
If I should go tomorrow, it would never be
goodbye, For I have left my heart with you, So
dont you ever cry. The love thats deep within
me, Shall reach you from the stars, Youll feel it
from the heavens, And it will heal the scars.
Anon
Life Goes On
If I should go before the rest of you Break not a
ower nor inscribe a stone Nor when I am 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
Joyce Grenfell 1910-1979
Turn Again to Life
If I should die and leave you here a while, be not
like others sore undone, who keep long vigil by
the silent dust. 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 unnished tasks of mine
and I perchance may therein comfort you.
Mary Lee Hall
Im Free
Dont grieve for me, for now Im free. Im 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 ll 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 lifes been full, I savored
much. Good friends, good times, a loved ones
touch. Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.
Dont lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your
hearts and peace to thee. God wanted me now:
He set me free.
Anon
16
Death is Nothing At All (Irish Funeral Poem)
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, Put no difference
in your tone, Wear no forced air of solemnity or
sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little
jokes we shared together. Let my name ever be
the household word that it always was. Let it
be spoken without effect, 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 unbroken
continuity. 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.
Henry Scott Holland 1847 -1918
Indian Prayer
When I am dead Cry for me a little Think of me
sometimes But not too much. Think of me now
and again As I was in life At some moments its
pleasant to recall But not for long. Leave me in
peace And I shall leave you in peace And while
you live Let your thoughts be with the living.
Anon
Living Bouquets
When I quit this mortal shore And mosey round
this earth no more, Do not weep and do not sob;
I may have found a better job. Dont go and buy
a large bouquet For which youll nd it hard to
pay, Dont mope around and feel all blue; I may
be better off than you. Dont tell the folks I was
a saint Or any old thing that I aint. If you have
jam like that to spread, Please hand it out before
Im dead. If you have roses bless your soul, Just
pin one in my buttonhole While Im alive and well
today; Dont wait until Im gone away.
Anon
Remember Me
Do not shed tears when I have gone but smile
instead because I have lived. Do not shut your
eyes and pray to God that Ill come back but
open your eyes and see all that I have left behind.
I know your heart will be empty cause you cannot
see me but still I want you to be full of the love we
shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and
live only for yesterday or you can be happy for
tomorrow because of what happened between
us yesterday. You can remember me and grieve
that I have gone or you can cherish my memory
and let it live on. You can cry and lose yourself,
become distraught and turn your back on the
world or you can do what I want smile, wipe
away the tears, learn to love again and go on.
David Harkins 1981
Afterglow
Id like the memory of me to be a happy one.
Id like to leave an afterow of smiles when life is
done.Id like to leave an echo whispering softly
down the ways. Of happy times and laughing
times and bright and sunny days. Id like the tears
of those who grieve, to dry before the sun. Of
happy memories that I leave when life is done.
Author unknown
To Sleep
O soft embalmer of the still midnight, Shutting,
with careful ngers and benign, Our gloom-
pleasd eyes, embowerd from the light, Enshaded
in forgetfulness divine: O soothest Sleep! if so it
please thee, close In midst of this thine hymn my
willing eyes, Or wait the Amen, ere thy poppy
throws Around my bed its lulling charities. Then
save me, or the passed day will shine Upon my
pillow, breeding many woes, Save me from
curious Conscience, that still lords its strength
for darkness, burrowing like a mole; Turn the key
deftly in the oiled wards, And seal the hushed
casket of my Soul.
John Keats
Requiem
Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and
let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I
laid me down with a will. This be the verse you
gave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the
hunter home from the hill.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
To Those I Love
If I should ever leave you, Whom I love To go along
the silent way. . . Grieve not. Nor speak of me
with tears. But laugh and talk of me As if I were
beside you there. (Id come. . .Id come, Could I
but nd a way! But would not tears and And grief
be barriers?) And when you hear a song Or see
a bird I loved, Please do not let the thought of
me Be sad. . .for I am loving you Just as I always
have. . . You were so good to me! There are so
many things I wanted still to do. . . So many things
I wanted to say to you. . . Remember that I did not
fear. . . It was Just leaving you That was so hard
to face. We cannot see beyond. . . ut this I know:
I loved you so. . . twas heaven here with you!
Isla Paschal Richardson.
16 17
Not In Vein
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not
live in vain: If I can ease one life the aching, Or
cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his
nest again, I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson
I Have A Rendezvous With Death
I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed
barricade When Spring comes round with rustling
shade And apple blossoms ll the air. I have a
rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back
blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my
hand And lead me into his dark land And close
my eyes and quench my breath; It may be I shall
pass him still. I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill, When
Spring comes round again this year And the rst
meadow owers appear. God knows twere better
to be deep Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep, Pulse nigh
to pulse, and breath to breath, Where hushed
awakenings are dear . . . But Ive a rendezvous
with Death At midnight in some aming town,
When Spring trips north again this year, And I
to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that
rendezvous.
Alan Seeger (1888-1916)
To My Dearest Family
Some things Id like to say but rst of all to let you
know that I arrived okay Im writing this from Heaven
where I dwell with God above where theres no
more tears or sadness there is just eternal love
Please do not be unhappy just because Im out of
sight remember that Im with you every morning,
noon and night That day I had to leave you when
my life on Earth was throughGod picked me up
and hugged me and He said I welcome you Its
good to have you back again you were missed
while you were gone as for your dearest family
theyll be here later on I need you here so badly as
part of My big plan theres so much that we have
to do to help our mortal man Then God gave
me a list of things He wished for me to do and
foremost on that list of mine is to watch and care
for you And I will be beside you every day and
week and year and when youre sad Im standing
there to wipe away the tear And when you lie in
bed at night the days chores put to ight God
and I are closest to you in the middle of the night
When you think of my life on Earth and all those
loving years because youre only human they are
bound to bring you tears But do not be afraid to
cry it does relieve the pain remember there would
be no owers unless there was some rain I wish
that I could tell you of all that God has planned but
if I were to tell you you wouldnt understand But
one thing is for certain though my life on Earth is
ore I am closer to you now than I ever was before
And to my very many friends trust God knows
what is best Im still not far away from you Im just
beyond the crest There are rocky roads ahead
of you and many hills to climb but together we
can do it taking one day at a time It was always
my philosophy and Id like it for you too that as
you give unto the World so the World will give to
you If you can help somebody who is in sorrow
or in pain then you can say to God at night my
day was not in vain And now I am contentedthat
my life it was worthwhile knowing as I passed
along the way I made somebody smile So if you
meet somebody who is down and feeling low just
lend a hand to pick him up as on your way you
go When you are walking down the street and
youve got me on your mind Im walking in your
footsteps only half a step behind And when you
feel the gentle breeze or the wind upon your face
thats me giving you a great big hug or just a soft
embrace And when its time for you to go from
that body to be free remember youre not going
you are coming here to me And I will always love
you from that land way up above Will be in touch
again soon P.S. God sends His Love
Author Unknown
To Those I Love and Those Who Love Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go. You have
so many things to see and do. You mustnt 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 its time I traveled on alone. So grieve a while
for me, if grieve you must. Then let your grief be
comforted by trust. Its only a while that we must
part, So bless the memories within your heart. I
wont be far away, for life goes on. So if you need
me, call and I will hear. Though you cant see or
touch me, Ill be near. And if you listen with your
heart, youll hear,All of my love around you soft
and clear. And then, when you must come this
way, Ill greet you with a smile and say Welcome
Home.
Author Unknown
Remember
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 late
to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget
me for a while And afterwards remember, do not
18
grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better
by far you should forget and smileThan that you
should remember and be sad.Christina
Georgina Rossetti 1830 - 1894
Song
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs
for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor
shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above
me With showers and dewdrops wet: And if thou
wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall
not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on as if in
pain: And dreaming through the twilight hat doth
not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply
may forget.
Author unknown
Miss Me - But Let Me Go
When I come to the end of the road And the sun
has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom-lled
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 we once shared,
iss me, but let me go. For this journey that we all
must take, And each must go alone. Its all a part
of the Masters plan, a step on the road to home.
When we are lonely and sick at heart, Go to the
friends we know, And bury your sorrows in doing
good deeds, Miss me, but let me go.
Anon
High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And
danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward Ive climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of; wheeled and soared
and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hovering
there Ive chased the shouting wind along, and
ung My eager craft through footless halls of air;
Up, up the long delirious burning blue Ive topped
the windswept heights with easy grace, Where
never lark nor even eagle ew; And while, with
silent lifting mind Ive trod The high, untrespassed
sanctity of space Put out my hand and touched
the face of God.
John Gillespie McGee 1922-1941
When Tomorrow Starts Without Me
When tomorrow starts without me, And Im not
there to see; If the sun should rise and nd your
eyes All lled with tears for me; I wish so much
you wouldnt cry The way you did today, While
thinking of the many things, We didnt get to say.
I know how much you love me, As much as I
love you, And each time that you think of me,
I know youll miss me too; But when tomorrow
starts without me, Please try to understand, That
an angel came and called my name, And took
me by the hand, And said my place was ready,
In heaven far above, And that Id have to leave
behind All those I dearly love. But as I turned to
walk away, A tear fell from my eye, For all my life,
Id always thought, I didnt want to die. I had so
much to live for, So much yet to do, It seemed
almost impossible, That I was leaving you. I
thought of all the yesterdays, The good ones
and the bad, I thought of all the love we shared,
And all the fun we had. If I could relive yesterday,
ust even for awhile, Id say goodbye and kiss
you And maybe see you smile. But then I fully
realized, That this could never be, For emptiness
and memories, Would take the place of me. And
when I thought of worldly things, I might miss
come tomorrow, I thought of you, and when I
did, My heart was lled with sorrow. But when
I walked through heavens gates, I felt so much
at home. When God looked down and smiled at
me, From His great golden throne, He said This
is eternity, And all Ive promised you. Today for life
on earth is past, But here it starts anew. I promise
no tomorrow, But today will always last, And since
each days the same day Theres no longing for
the past. But you have been so faithful, So trusting
and so true. Thought there were times you did
some things, You knew you shouldnt do. But you
have been forgiven And now at last youre free.
So wont you take my hand And share my life with
me? So when tomorrow starts without me, Dont
think were far apart, For every time you think of
me, Im right here, in your heart.
D. Romano
If I Go While Youre Still Here And If I Go While
Youre Still Here... know that I still live on, vibrating
to a different measure behind a thin veil you
cannot see through. You will not see me, so you
must have faith. I wait the time when we can soar
together again, both aware of each other. Until
then, live your life to the fullest and when you
need me just whisper my name in your heart I will
be there.
Colleen Hitchcock
To Remember Me
Give my sight to the man who has never seen
a sunrise, a babys face or love in the eyes of a
woman. Give my heart to a person whose own
heart has caused nothing but endless days of
pain. Take my bones, every muscle, every bre
and nerve in my body and nd a way to make a
crippled child walk. If you must bury something, let
it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice
18 19
against my fellow man. Give my sins to the devil,
Give my soul to God. If, by chance you wish to
remember me, do it with a kind deed or word
to someone who needs you. If you do all I have
asked, I will live forever.
Robert N. Test
Sleeping in the Forest
I thought the earth remembered me, She took
me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts,
her pockets full of lichens and seed. I slept as
never before, a stone on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white re of the stars but my
thoughts, and they oated light as moths among
the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard
the small kingdoms Breathing around me, the
insects, and the birds who do their work in the
darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
Grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had
vanished at least a dozen times into something
better.
Mary Oliver 1979
Because I Could Not Stop For Death
He kindly stopped for me--- The Carriage held
but just Ourselves--- And Immortality. We slowly
drove---He knew no haste And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility---
We passed the School, where Children strove At
Recess---in the Ring--- We passed the Fields of
Gazing Grain--- We passed the Setting Sun--- Or
rather---He passed Us--- The Dews drew quivering
and chill--- For only Gossamer, my Gown--- My
Tippet---Only Tulle--- We paused before a House
that seemed A Swelling of the Ground--- The Roof
scarcely visible--- The Cornice---in the Ground---
Since then---tis Centuries---and yet Feels shorter
than the Day I rst surmised the Horses Heads
Were toward Eternity---
Emily Dickinson
The Funeral
WHOEVER comes to shroud me, do not harm
Nor question much that subtle wreath of hair
about mine arm; The mystery, the sign you must
not touch, For tis my outward soul, Viceroy to
that which, unto heavn being gone, Will leave this
to control And keep these limbs, her provinces,
from dissolution. For if the sinewy thread my brain
lets fall Through every part Can tie those parts,
and make me one of all; Those hairs, which
upward grew, and strength and art Have from a
better brain, Can better do t: except she meant
that I By this should know my pain, As prisoners
then are manacled, when theyre condemnd to
die. Whateer she meant by t, bury it with me, For
since I am Loves martyr, it might breed idolatry If
into other hands these reliques came. As twas
humility T afford to it all that a soul can do, So tis
some bravery That, since you would have none
of me, I bury some of you.
John Donne 1573-1631
+ ,
1. When You Lose A Parent You Lose Your Past

When You Lose A Spouse You Lose Your Present
When You Lose A Child You Lose Your Future
Anon
2. A wife who loses her husband is called a widow. A
husband who loses his wife is called a widower. A
child who loses their parents is called an orphan.
But there is no word for a parent who loses a
child... Thats how awful the loss is.
Anon
Dora
She knelt upon her brothers grave, My little girl
of six years old He used to be so good and
brave, The sweetest lamb of all our fold; He used
to shout, he used to sing, Of all our tribe the little
king And so unto the turf her ear she laid, To
hark if still in that dark place he playd. No sound!
no sound! Deaths silence was profound; And
horror crept Into her aching heart, and Dora wept.
If this is as it ought to be, My God, I leave it unto
Thee.
Thomas Edward Brown
Jillian
Its hard to believe that Jillian is no longer here,
Taken from this earth in her seventeen year. With
a bright friendly smile and hair of perfection, And
eyes that shone full of affection, She fought a life
battle that set her apart, But thats not why shell
stay in our heart. This plucky and very special
young girl, Will remain as treasured as an oysters
pearl, But shes moved on to a heavenly life, Free
of troubles or woes, sickness or strife. It will be
hard for us who are left behind, Because well
miss that girl who was loving and kind, But we
have to remember this is Gods special plan, And
right now Jillians holding his hand
Anon
Infants Graves
Infants graves are steps of angels, where Earths
brightest gems of innocence repose. God is their
parent, and they need no tear, He takes them to
his bosom from earths woes, A bud their lifetime
and a ower their close. Their spirits are an Iris of
the skies, Needing no prayers; a sunsets happy
close, Gone are the bright rays of their soft blue
eyes; Flowers weep in dewdrops oer them, and
the gale gently sighs. Their lives were nothing
but a sunny shower, Melting on owers as tears
melt from the eye, Their deaths were dewdrops
on heavens amaranth bower, And tolled on
owers as summer gales went by. They bowed
and trembled, and they left no sigh, And the sun
smiled to show their end was well. Infants have
naught to weep for ere they die; All prayers are
needless, beads they need not tell, White owers
their mourners are, nature their passing-bell.
John Clare 1793-1864
A Child Loaned
Ill lend you for a little time A child of Mine. He
said. For you to love the while he lives And mourn
for when hes 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? Hell bring his charms to
gladden you And should his stay be brief, Youll
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. Ive looked this wide world
over In my search for teachers true, And from
the throngs that crowd lifes 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
well run. Well shelter him with tenderness, Well
love him while we may, And for the happiness
weve known, Forever grateful stay. But should
the angels call for him Much sooner than we
planned, Well brave the bitter grief that comes
And try to understand.
Anon
Resignation
There is no ock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there! There is no reside,
howsoeer defended, But has one vacant chair!
The air is full of farewells to the dying, And
mournings for the dead; The heart of Rachel,
for her children crying, Will not be comforted!
Let us be patient! These severe afictions Not
from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial
benedictions Assume this dark disguise. We see
but dimly through the mists and vapors; Amid
these earthly damps What seem to us but sad,
funereal tapers May be heavens distant lamps.
There is no Death! What seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the
life elysian, Whose portal we call Death. She is
not dead,the child of our affection, But gone
unto that school Where she no longer needs our
poor protection, And Christ himself doth rule. In
that great cloisters stillness and seclusion, By
guardian angels led, Safe from temptation, safe
from sins pollution, She lives, whom we call
dead. Day after day we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air; Year after year, her
tender steps pursuing, Behold her grown more
fair. Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken
The bond which nature gives, Thinking that our
remembrance, though unspoken, May reach her
where she lives. Not as a child shall we again
behold her; For when with raptures wild In our
embraces we again enfold her, She will not be a
child; But a fair maiden, in her Fathers mansion,
Clothed with celestial grace; And beautiful with all
the souls expansion Shall we behold her face.
And though at times impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppressed, The swelling heart
heaves moaning like the ocean, That cannot be at
rest, We will be patient, and assuage the feeling
We may not wholly stay; By silence sanctifying,
not concealing, The grief that must have way.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Epitaph on a Child
Here, freed from pain, secure from misery, lies
A child, the darling of his parents eyes: A gentler
Lamb neer sported on the plain, A fairer ower will
never bloom again: Few were the days allotted
to his breath; Now let him sleep in peace his
night of death.
Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
The Master Gardener from Heaven above
Planted a seed in his garden of love. From there
it grew, a ower bud small That never had time to
open at all.
Anon
Special Angel In Heaven
Theres a special Angel in Heaven that is a part
of me. It is not where I wanted her but where
God wanted her to be. She was here but just
a moment like a night time shooting star And
though she is in Heaven, she isnt very far. She
touched the hearts of many like only Angels can.
I wouldve held her every minute If Id only known
Gods plan. So I send this special message to the
Heavens up above.Please take care of my Angel
and send her all my love.
Anon
Little Child
Little child, you packed your toys, You no longer
wished to play. Then all alone - all by yourself, You
gave your life away. What were you thinking; what
were your thoughts? What was in your troubled
mind? Oh such confusion; no one knew, Why
so sad, dear child of mine? You gave up before
you started, Why so eager to depart? Honey,
just around the corner, Better things for you,
sweetheart. Could I have helped? You didnt ask.
How could I have been so blind? Such grown up
sadness in my baby, If only wed had had more
time. Surely God was ready for you, That is what
I tell myself. But, why couldnt He have warned
me, In some way I might have helped. For such
20
a short time you were ours We loved you more
each day. But, precious child, Ill always wonder,
What made you put your toys away?
Anon
Precious Son
God, I know you gave your precious Son To give
us life with You. But we didnt want our son to
leave, Cause he was precious too. We all are
special in your eyes And all to you return. We
know our son will not come back, And for this our
hearts still yearn. Our time on earth is for learning,
And when our lessons are through, Our Lord will
choose the time we leave, And we come back to
you. Our precious son is with you, And there will
be a day, That we too will leave this earth, And
you will light our way. His arms will be wide open,
And the wait will be worthwhile, When we see
again our precious son, And the splendor of his
smile.
Anon

Come Along With Me God saw you getting tired,
And a cure was not to be.So he put his arms
around you, and whispered, Come along with
me. With tearful eyes we watched you slowly
fade away. Although we loved you dearly, we
knew you couldnt stay. A golden heart stopped
beating, working hands were put to rest. God
broke my heart to prove to us, he only takes the
best.
Anon
Golden Memories
They say memories are golden, well, maybe that
is true. I never wanted memories, I only wanted
you. A million times I cried. If love alone could
have saved you, you never would have died. In
life I loved you dearly, in death I love you still. In
my heart you hold a place no one else could ll. If
tears could build a stairway and heartache make
a lane. Id walk the path to Heaven and bring
you back again. Our family chain is broken, and
nothing seems the same. But as God calls us
back one by one, the chain will link again.
Anon
The Day God Took You Home
In tears we saw you sinking, And watched you
pass away. Our hearts were almost broken,
We wanted you to stay. But when we saw you
sleeping, So peaceful, free from pain, How could
we wish you back with us, To suffer that again. It
broke our hearts to lose you, But you did not go
alone, For part of us went with you, The day God
took you home.
Anon
Forever in our Hearts
A million times we needed you, A million times we
cried, If love alone would have saved you, You
never would of died. In life we loved you dearly, In
death we love you still,
In our hearts you hold a place, No one can ever
ll. A light from our household is gone, A voice
from our love is stilled,
A place in our vacant home, Which never can be
lled. Some may think you are forgotten, Though
on earth you are no more, But in our memory you
are with us, As you always were before. It broke
our hearts to lose you,
But you did not go alone, A part of us went
with you, The day God called you home. Your
precious memories are for keepsakes, with which
we never part,
God has you safely in his keeping, But we have
you forever in our hearts
Anon
One At Rest
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 Ive 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 eeting 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.
Anon
21
God Took Him To His Loving Home
God saw him getting tired, a cure was not
to be. He wrapped him in his loving arms and
whispered Come with me. He suffered much in
silence, his spirit did not bend. He faced his pain
with courage, until the very end. He tried so hard
to stay with us but his ght was not in vain, God
took him to His loving home and freed him from
the pain.
Anon

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders elds the poppies blow Between the
crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in
the sky The larks, still bravely singing, y Scarce
heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead.
Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset
glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In
Flanders elds. Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be
yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who
die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In
Flanders elds.
Lt Col John McCrae
For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her
children, England mourns for her dead across the
sea. Flesh of her esh 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 Englands 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.
Laurence Binyon
Memorial Day
The bugle echoes shrill and sweet, But not of
war it sings to-day. The road is rhythmic with
the feet Of men-at-arms who come to pray. The
roses blossom white and red On tombs where
weary soldiers lie; Flags wave above the honored
dead And martial music cleaves the sky. Above
their wreath-strewn graves we kneel, They kept
the faith and fought the ght. Through ying lead
and crimson steel They plunged for Freedom and
the Right. May we, their grateful children, learn
Their strength, who lie beneath this sod, Who
went through re and death to earn At last the
accolade of God. In shining rank on rank arrayed
They march, the legions of the Lord; He is their
Captain unafraid, The Prince of Peace . . . Who
brought a sword.
J. Kilmer
Remembrance Day
Eleven OClock The crowd is gathered Blood
stained lapel In a silence of white crosses The
granite monument inspires Bronze men, stand
up! The people commemorate your sacrice
Paraded from the horric maelstrom All wars
mistaken Memory engraved with the chisel of war
Outpourings of feelings In a wreath of poppies A
mother offers the last lament Of a son fallen for
his country O murderous war! When will you drop
your guns?
D.B. Mercier
Tears In His Eyes
I begged my father not to go He looked at me and
walked to the door so slow. Tears lled his eyes
as she bade my mother goodbye I began to cry.
He opened his arms to me I must protect my
country you see. I hugged him once and kissed
him twice He wrapped his arms around me, it felt
so nice. Rain started to wail, she looked so frail
And I knew my emotions would fail. But instead
of breaking down and making things worse My
words came out slow without a curse. I dried my
tears and she looked at me Father will be back
some day, you will see. Then as we all cried, my
mother took my hand And she led us to a place
where we must hide. It has been six years That
the war has hammered in my ears. But now it is
done And news has come. Father is dead, but I
22
am free As free as I want to be. So lets stand for
a minute with our hearts put in it. And remember
those father, mothers and brother that died so we
could be free
L Krahn
Thanks For Your Life
They ght to live They ght to die To give us
freedom From land to sky. They gave us a chance
To rule on our own Now we live to show them
How strongly weve grown. Thanks for your ght
Thanks for your life We now live in Peace Day
and night.
J Pike
The Healers
In a vision of the night I saw them, In the battles of
the night. Mid the roar and the reeling shadows
of blood They were moving like light, Light of the
reason, guarded Tense within the will, As a lantern
under a tossing of boughs Burns steady and still.
With scrutiny calm, and with ngers Patient as
swift They bind up the hurts and the pain-writhen
Bodies uplift, Untired and defenseless; around
them With shrieks in its breath Bursts stark from
the terrible horizon Impersonal death; But they
take not their courage from anger That blinds the
hot being; They take not their pity from weakness;
Tender, yet seeing; Feeling, yet nerved to the
uttermost; Keen, like steel; Yet the wounds of the
mind they are stricken with, Who shall heal? They
endure to have eyes of the watcher In hell, and
not swerve For an hour from the faith that they
follow, The light that they serve. Man true to man,
to his kindness That overows all, To his spirit
erect in the thunder When all his forts fall, This
light, in the tiger-mad welter, They serve and they
save. What song shall be worthy to sing of them
Braver than the brave?
Laurence Binyon
The Pride Of Victory
One morning, bright and radiant, As the sun
rose in the sky, A drumbeat sounded through
the hills, And echoed far and high. One lone
drumbeat oer the hills, Sounds like a cannons
roar. The creatures dive for shelter, For, the beat
precedes a war. A shout rings from the hillsides,
And the soldiers stampede down. One young,
tiny drummer boy, Gets trampled to the ground.
As the human waves collide, And the rst shot
rings aloud, A soldier falls in battle; The owers
form his shroud. Both sides mix together, Here
their colours blend and clot. But, the soldiers
keep on ghting, And unity stands for naught. As
the last gunshots fall silent, All the forms dead
on the earth. Two enemies stand in stillness, As
they turn to face their dearth. Clouds turn the sky
to black, And rain falls all around. A light shines
through the darkness, Cleansing bloodstained
ground. They stand there in the silence, Gaze
through the others heart, Link hands in grievous
quiet, Piercing hatred, as a dart. As the smoke
fades in the distance, The hurt souls nd release,
The price too high for victory, They both agree to
peace.
A. Atkinson
The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier
A young man left his life one day, To ght a war
yet far away, Fighting to let peace be known, He
thought one day he would come home. He left
his love, said with a smile, Im coming home, in
a short while. He never knew his time was near,
He left to ght, without a fear. The scene was
gray and bleak, A win, a loss, a gain, a fall, The
ghting went on, week after week They wanted
to end it all. By the time the war was won, The
bloodshed over, the battles done, One hundred
thousand, and 16 more, Canadians dead, that
was the score. The brave young man that left
his love, Was gone to face the lord above, His
human body never found, With poppies blowing,
there came a sound. A service to remember
them, Who came before, the brave young men,
A cannon booms, a bugle sounds, The tomb of
those whose life it crowns. We remember with
a Tomb of Stone, For the soldiers still unknown,
All those who fought and died before, And those
wholl ght in future wars. Through many wars,
oer many years, Men and women looked past
their fears, This tomb remembers all of them, The
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
J. McKay
+
If Roses Grow in Heaven
If roses grow in Heaven Lord Please pick a bunch
for me. Place them in my Mothers arms and tell
her theyre from me. Tell her I love her and miss
her, and when she turns to smile, Place a kiss
upon her cheek and hold her for a while. Because
remembering her is easy, I do it everyday, But
there is an ache within my heart That will never go
away.
Anon
Thank You, Mom
Sometimes I know the words to say, Give thanks
for all youve done, But then they y up and
away, Just as quickly as they come. How could I
possibly thank you enough? The one who made
me whole, The one to whom I owe my life, The
forming of my soul. The one who tucked me in at
night, The one who stopped my crying, The one
who was the expert, At picking up when I was lying.
The one who made such sacrices, To always
put us rst, Who let me test my broken wings,
In spite of how it hurts. Who painted the world
23
24
a rainbow, When its lled with broken dreams,
Who explained it all so clearly, When nothing was
what it seemed. Are there really words for this? I
nd this question tough.... Anything I want to say,
Just doesnt seem enough. What way is there
to thank you, For your heart, your sweat, your
tears, For ten thousand little things youve done,
For oh-so-many years. For never giving up
on us, When your wits had reached their end,
For always being proud of us, For being our best
friend. And so Ive come to realize, The only way
to say, The only thank you thats enough, Is clear
in just one way. Look down at us before you, See
what weve become? Do you see yourself in us?
The great job that youve done? Thank you for
the gifts you gave, For everything that was you,
But thank you, Mom, most of all, For making our
dreams come true.
Author Unknown
Mom Lived Her Life For Love
Mom lived her life for love of friends and family,
Neither asking for nor wanting a return. Her days
became a sunlit homily; With others joy her joy
and main concern. When we were ill, she also
became sick; When we were cut, she, too,
began to bleed. Of our oil lamp she was the wick,
Drawing her bright ame from our need. Some
say that such behaviors out of date; That self-
fulllment is the way to race. But Mom, without
much choice, then chose her fate, Finding greater
truth in an embrace. She lives on in the sparkle in
our eyes: Laughing, quiet, gentle, loving, wise.
Author Unknown
Your Mother Is Always With You.
Your Mother is always with you. Shes the whisper
of the leaves as you walk down the street. Shes
the smell of certain foods you remember, owers
you pick and perfume that she wore. Shes the
cool hand on your brow when youre not feeling
well. Shes your breath in the air on a cold winters
day. She is the sound of the rain that lulls you to
sleep. The colors of a rainbow. She is Christmas
morning. Your Mother lives inside your laughter.
And shes crystallized in every tear drop. A mother
shows every emotion.......... happiness, sadness,
fear, jealousy, love, hate, anger, helplessness,
excitement, joy, sorrow..... and all the while,
hoping and praying you will only know the good
feelings in life. Shes the place you came from.
She is your rst home, and shes the map you
follow with every step you take. Shes your rst
love, your rst friend, even your rst enemy. But
nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not
space....not even death!
Anon
A Mothers Crown
Heaven lit up with a mighty presence, as the
Angels all looked down. Today the Lord was
placing the jewels Into my mothers crown. He
held up a golden crown, as my darling mother
looked on. He said in His gentle voice, I will now
explain each one. The rst gem, He said, is
a Ruby, and its for endurance alone, for all the
nights you waited up for your children to come
home. For all the nights by their bedside, you
stayed till the fever went down. For nursing every
little wound, I add this ruby to your crown. An
emerald, Ill place by the ruby, for leading your
child in the right way. For teaching them the
lessons, That made them who they are today.
For always being right there, through all lifes
important events. I give you a sapphire stone,
for the time and love you spent. For untying the
strings that held them, when they grew up and
left home. I give you this one for courage. Then
the Lord added a garnet stone. Ill place a stone
of amethyst, He said. For all the times you spent
on your knees, when you asked if Id take care
of your children, and then for having faith in Me.
I have a pearl for every little sacrice that you
made without them knowing. For all the times you
went without, to keep them happy, healthy and
growing. And last of all I have a diamond, the
greatest one of all, for sharing unconditional love
whether they were big or small. It was you love
that helped them grow Feeling safe and happy
and proud A love so strong and pure It could shift
the darkest cloud. After the Lord placed the last
jewel in, He said, Your crown is now complete,
Youve earned your place in Heaven With your
children at your feet.
Anon
Wonderful Mother
God made a wonderful mother, A mother who
never grows old; He made her smile of the
sunshine, And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars, In her
cheeks fair roses you see; God made a wonderful
mother, And He gave that dear mother to me.
Anon
A Mothers Message From Heaven
I see you my darlings, all the time, I know everything
you do. Would you believe, my dearest children
Im even closer now to you! I can see inside your
minds, Indeed, inside your hearts, I even know
you better now, Than I did before, sweethearts.
Ive always loved you - you know that, But maybe
now I love you more, I love the adults that youve
become, Just as I loved the child before. I know
how much you miss me, Well, I surely miss you,
too. I miss our talking and our laughing, And all
we used to do. Whether you are six or sixty, Youll
always be my precious child. Youre the babies
24 25
that I carried And the adults that helped me smile.
What you need to understand, Though death
has taken me away, Is that Ive not left you, my
darlings. I am still with you today. My family, I could
never leave you; God, of course, would not want
that. Physically, we are apart, But our hearts are
still attached. I love you all the time, You cannot
get away from me. Thats the way a Mother is
Right until eternity. Every day Im with you I see
you from above, And I want for you to know How
very much youre dearly loved.
Anon
To Grandmother With Love
I had an angel here beside me, Sent to Earth to
help and guide me, An angel always there for
me Sent to love and care for me. She did the
things that angels should: She taught me what
was bad and good, She gave me hope when no
one cared, She held my hand when I was scared,
She cheered me up when I was down (She could
make a smile from a frown), She doctored me
when I was sick, And many another angel trick.
Today my angel earned her wings Her halo, harp
and other things. But today Im lost and all alone
For today God called my angel home.
Author Unknown
Grandma
While we honor all our mothers with words of love
and praise. While we tell about their goodness
and their kind and loving ways. We should also
think of Grandma, shes a mother too, you see....
For she mothered my dear mother as my mother
motherd me.
Author Unknown

The Ship
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 her until at
length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just
where the sea and sky mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says There, she is
gone. Gone where? Gone from my sight. That
is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and
spar as when she left my side and she is just
as able to bear her load of living freight to her
destined port. Her diminished size is in me, not
in her. And just at that moment when someone
says There, she is gone there are other eyes
watching her coming, and other voices ready to
take up the glad shout - Here she comes!
Henry Van Dyke 1852-1933
She is Gone
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 will come back Or you
can open your eyes and see all that she has
left Your heart can be empty because you cant
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.
David Harkins
Her Journeys Just Begun
Dont think of her as gone away, her journeys just
begun, Life holds so many facets, this earth is
only one, Just think of her as resting, from the
sorrows and the tears, In a place of warmth and
comfort, where there are no days or years, Think
how she must be wishing, that we could know
today, How nothing but our sadness, can really
pass away, And think of her as living, in the hearts
of those she touched, For nothing loved is ever
lost, and she was loved so much.
Anon

Until We Meet Again
We think about you always, we talk about you
still, you have never been forgotten, Dad and you
never will. We hold you close within our hearts,
and there you will remain, To walk and guide us
through our lives until we meet again.
Anon
Memories of Dad
I will take this special moment To turn my thoughts
to Dad Thank him for the home he gave For all the
things we had. We think about the eeting years
Too quickly, gone for good It seems like only
yesterday Id go back if I could. A time when Dad
was always there, No matter what the weather.
Always strong when things went wrong He held
our lives together. He strived so hard from day
to day And never once complained. With steady
hands, he worked so hard And kept the family
name. He taught us that hard work pays off,
You reap just what you sow. He said that if you
tend your crops, Your eld will overow. My life
has been bountiful He taught me how to give In
his rm and steadfast way He taught me how to
live. Dad dwells among the angels now He left us
much too soon He glides across a golden eld
Above the harvest moon. I see him in the summer
rain, He rides upon the wind And when my path is
beaten down He picks me up again.
Anon
26
Our Dear Dad
Although we are apart now Youre always in our
hearts, In every single thing we do, You play the
biggest part. When we have to make decisions
And we dont know what to do, Our thoughts,
we nd Will go right back to you. We think of how
youd handle it And try to work it out, Its at times
like this well really miss Having you about Not
only for this reason When things are going bad,
Theres a million different reasons Why well miss
you Dad.
Anon
Epitaph on my Ever Honored Father
O YE whose cheek the tear of pity stains, Draw
near with pious revrence, and attend! Here lie the
loving husbands dear remains, The tender father,
and the genrous friend; The pitying heart that felt
for human woe, The dauntless heart that feard
no human pride; The friend of man-to vice alone
a foe; For evn his failings leand to virtues side.
Robert Burns
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age
should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage
against the dying of the light. Though wise men at
their end know dark is right, Because their words
had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle
into that good night. Good men, the last wave
by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have
danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the
dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang
the sun in ight, And learn, too late, they grieved it
on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding
sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be
gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And
you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse,
bless me now with your erce tears, I pray. Do not
go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against
the dying of the light
Dylan Thomas
Shifting the Sun
When your father dies, say the Irish, you lose your
umbrella against bad weather. May his sun be your
light, say the Armenians When your father dies,
say the Welsh, you sink a foot deeper into the
earth. May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.
When your father dies, say the Canadians, you
run out of excuses. May you inherit his sun, say
the Armenians. When your father dies, say the
French, you become your own father. May you
stand up in his light, say the Armenians. When
you father dies, say the Indians, he comes back
as the thunder. May you inherit his light, say
the Armenians. When your father dies, say the
Russians, he takes your childhood with him. May
you inherit his light, say the Armenians. When
your father dies, say the English, you join his club
you vowed you wouldnt. May you inherit his sun,
say the Armenians. When your father dies, say
the Armenians, your sun shifts forever. And you
walk in his light.
Diana Der-Hovanessian
A Father
A father is a person who is forced to endure
childbirth without an anesthetic. He growls when
he feels good and laughs very loud when he is
scared half-to-death. A father never feels entirely
worthy of the worship in a childs eyes. He is
never quite the hero his daughter thinks . . .Never
quite the man his son believes him to be. And this
worries him sometimes. (So he works too hard
to try to smooth the rough places in the road of
those of his own who will follow him.) A father is
a person who goes to war sometimes . . .and
would run the other way except that war is part of
his only important job in his life, (which is making
the world better for his child than it has been
for him.) Fathers grow older faster than people,
because they, in other wars, have to stand at the
train station and wave goodbye to the uniform that
climbs onboard. And, while mothers cry where
it shows, fathers stand and beam . . .outside
. . . and die inside. Fathers are men who give
daughters away to other men, who arent nearly
good enough, so that they can have children that
are smarter than anybodys. Fathers ght dragons
almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast
table, off to the arena which is sometimes called
an ofce or a workshop. There, with callused
hands, they tackle the dragon with three heads;
Weariness, Works, and Monotony. And they
never quite win the ght, but they never give up.
Knights in shining armor; fathers in shiny trousers:
Theres little difference as they march away each
workday. I dont know where father goes when
he dies, but Ive an idea that, after a good rest,
wherever it is, he wont just sit on a cloud and wait
for the girl hes loved and the children she bore.
Hell be busy there too . . .repairing the stars,
oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing
the way.
Author Unknown
When God Created Fathers
When the good Lord was creating Fathers he
started with a tall frame. And a female angel
nearby said, What kind of Father is that? If youre
going to make children so close to the ground,
why have you put fathers up so high? He wont
be able to shoot marbles without kneeling, tuck
a child in bed without bending, or even kiss a
child without a lot of stooping. And God smiled
and said, Yes, but if I make him child size, who
26 27
would children have to look up to? And when
God made a Fathers hands, they were large and
sinewy. And the angel shook her head sadly and
said, Do you know what youre doing? Large
hands are clumsy. They cant manage diaper
pins, small buttons, rubber bands on pony tails
or even remove splinters caused by baseball
bats. And God smiled and said, I know, but
theyre large enough to hold everything a small
boy empties from his pockets at the end of a
day...yet small enough to cup a childs face in
his hands. And then God molded long, slim legs
and broad shoulders. And the angel nearly had a
heart attack. Boy, this is the end of the week, all
right, she clucked. Do you realize you just made
a Father without a lap? How is he going to pull a
child close to him without the kid falling between
his legs? And God smiled and said, A mother
needs a lap. A father needs strong shoulders
to pull a sled, balance a boy on a bicycle, and
hold a sleepy head on the way home from the
circus. God was in the middle of creating two
of the largest feet anyone had every seen when
the angel could contain herself no longer. Thats
not fair. Do you honestly think those large boats
are going to dig out of bed early in the morning
when the baby cries? Or walk through a small
birthday party without crushing at least three of the
guests? And God smiled and said, Theyll work.
Youll see. Theyll support a small child who wants
to ride a horse to Banbury Cross, or scare off
mice at the summer cabin, or display shoes that
will be a challenge to ll. God worked throughout
the night, giving the Father few words, but a rm
authoritative voice; eyes that saw everything, but
remained calm and tolerant. Finally, almost as an
afterthought, he added tears. Then he turned to
the angel and said, Now, are you satised that
he can love as much as a Mother? The angel
shutteth up.
Erma Bombeck
Childrens children are the crown of old men, and
the glory of children is their father.
- Proverbs 17:7
Memories
The love we have for Granddad Will never
fade away. Well think of him, our special friend
Throughout each passing day. Well walk into the
room And see his empty chair; Although we know
hes resting, Well feel his presence there. The
memories of his laughter, His warm and loving
smile, His eyes so full of happiness, His heart that
of a child. Memories are forever Be they laughter
or of tears, Memories we will treasure Through all
the forthcoming years.
Author Unknown

He is Gone
You can shed tears that he is gone, Or you can
smile because he lived, You can close your eyes
and pray that he will come back, Or you can open
your eyes and see all that he has left. Your heart
can be empty because you cant see him 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 him and only
that he is gone Or you can cherish his memory
and let it live on, You can cry and close your mind
be empty and turn your back, Or you can do what
he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and
go on.
David Harkins 1959 -
Good Timber
The man who never had to toil, Who never had
to win his share Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man But lived and died as
he began. Good timber does not grow in ease;
The stronger the wind, the tougher the trees; The
farther the sky, the greater the length; The more
the storm, the more the strength; By sun and
cold, by rain and snows, In tree and man, good
timber grows.
Author Unknown
Memories of The Heart
Feel no guilt in laughter, He knows how much you
care. Feel no sorrow in a smile That hes not here
to share. You cannot grieve forever, He would not
want you to. Hed hope that you would carry on
The way you always do. So talk about the good
times And the ways you showed you cared.
The days you spent together, All the happiness
you shared. Let the 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 lls you
with the feelings That he is always near. For if you
keep those memories You will never be apart And
he will live forever Locked safe within your heart.
Anon

To My Dear and Loving Husband
If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man
were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was
happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if
28
you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of
gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My
love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor aught
by love from thee give recompense. Thy love is
such I can no way reply; The heavens reward
thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love
lets so persevere, That when we live no more we
may live ever.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)

. .
Let Me Not See Old Age Let me not see old age:
Let me not hear The proffered help, the mumbled
sympathy, The well-meant tactful sophistries that
mock Pathetic husks who once were strong and
free, And in youths ckle triumph laughed and
sang, Loved, and were foolish; and at the close
have seen The fruits of folly garnered, and that
love, Tamed and encaged, stale into gray routine.
Let me not see old age; I am content With my few
crowded years; laughter and strength And song
have lit the beacon of my life. Let me not see
it fade, but when the long September shadows
steal across the square, Grant me this wish: they
may not nd me there.
D.R Geraint Jones
I Am.
I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows? My life
forsakes me, like a memory lost. I am the self-
consumer of my woes; They rise and vanish, an
oblivious host, Shadows of life, whose very soul
is lost. And yet I am--I live--though I am tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise, Into the
living sea of waking dream, Where there is neither
sense of life, nor joys, But the huge shipwreck of
my own esteem And all that s dear. Even those I
loved the best Are strange--nay, they are stranger
than the rest. I long for scenes where man has
never trod, For scenes where woman never
smiled or wept There to abide with my Creator,
God, And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie, The
grass below; above, the vaulted sky.
John Clare

Trout Fishing
Give me a rod of the split bamboo, a rainy day
and a y or two, a mountain stream where the
eddies play, and mists hang low oer the winding
way, Give me a haunt by the furling brook, A
hidden spot in a mossy nook, No sound save
hum of the drowsy bee, or lone birds tap on
the hollow tree. The world may roll with its busy
throng, And phantom scenes on its way along,
Its stocks may rise, or its stocks may fall, Ah!
What care I for its baubles all? I cast my y oer
the troubled rill, Luring the beauties by magic
skill, With mind at rest and a heart at ease, And
drink delight at the balmy breeze. A lusty trout
to my glad surprise, Speckled and bright on the
crest arise, Then splash and plunge in a dazzling
whirl, Hope springs anew as the wavelets curl.
Gracefully swinging from left to right, Action so
gentle- motion so slight,. Tempting, enticing, on
craft intent, Till yielding tip by the game is bent
Drawing in slowly, then letting go Under the ripples
where mosses grow Doubting my fortune, lost in
a dream, Blessing the land of forest and stream.
Eunice Lamberton
Traditional Gaelic blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind
be always at your back. May the sun shine warm
upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your elds
and until we meet again, may God hold you in
the palm of His hand. It must be borne in mind that
the tragedy of life doesnt lie in not reaching your
goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
It is not a calamity to die with dreams unfullled.
But it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster
to be unable to capture your ideal, But it is a
disaster to no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace
not to reach the stars. But it is a disgrace not
to have stars to reach for. Not failure, but low
aim is a sin.
Dr Benjamin Elijah Mays 1894-1984
Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not
there, I do not sleep I am a 1,000 winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow I am the sun on
ripened grain I am the gentle autumn rain When
you awaken in the mornings hush I am the swift
uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled light I am the
soft star that shines at night Do not stand at my
grave and cry I am not there; I did not die.
Anonymous
28
All Is Well
Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped 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
which 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 world
that it always was, Let it be spoken without effect,
without the trace of shadow on it. Life means all
that it ever meant. It it the same as it ever was,
there is unbroken continuity. 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. Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St Paul s Cathedral
A Child Loaned
Ill lend you for a little time A child of Mine. He
said. For you to love the while he lives And
mourn for when hes 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? Hell bring his
charms to gladden you And should his stay be
brief, Youll 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. Ive looked
this wide world over In my search for teachers
true, And from the throngs that crowd lifes 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 well run. Well shelter him with
tenderness, Well love him while we may, And for
the happiness weve known, Forever grateful stay.
But should the angels call for him Much sooner
than we planned, Well brave the bitter grief that
comes And try to understand.
Anonymous
High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And
danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward Ive climbed and joined the tumbling
mirth Of sun split clouds - and done a hundred
things You have not dreamed of; wheeled and
soared and swung High in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there Ive chased the shouting wind
along, and ung My eager craft through footless
halls of air; Up, up the long delirious burning blue
Ive topped the windswept heights with easy
race, Where never lark nor even eagle ew; And
while, with silent lifting mind Ive trod The high,
untrespassed sanctity of space Put out my hand
and touched the face of God.
Fl. Of cer John Gillespie McGee 1922-1941
Farewell
Farewell to Thee! But not farewell To all my
fondest thoughts of Thee; Within my heart they
still shall dwell And they shall cheer and comfort
me. Life seems more sweet that Thou didst live
And men more true Thou wert one Nothing is
lost that Thou didst give, Nothing destroyed that
Thou hast done.
Anne Bronte 1820-1849
Life Goes On
If I should go before the rest of you Break not a
ower Nor inscribe a stone Nor when I am 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
Joyce Grenfell 1910-1979
Indian Prayer
When I am dead Cry for me a little Think of me
sometimes But not too much. Think of me now
and again As I was in life At some moments its
pleasant to recall But not for long. Leave me in
peace And I shall leave you in peace And while
you live Let your thoughts be with the living.
Traditional
If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye, For I have left my
heart with you, So dont you ever cry. The love
thats deep within me, Shall reach you from the
stars, Youll feel it from the heavens, And it will
heal the scars.
Anon
He is Gone
You can shed tears that he is gone, Or you can
smile because he lived, You can close your eyes
and pray that he will come back, Or you can open
your eyes and see all that he has left. Your heart
can be empty because you cant see him 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 him and only
that he is gone Or you can cherish his memory
and let it live on, You can cry and close your mind
be empty and turn your back, Or you can do what
he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and
go on.
David Harkins
29
I am standing on the sea shore, A ship sails in 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 -m that is all. She is just
as large in the masts, hull and 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 in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my
side says, She is gone, There are others who
are watching her coming, and other voices take
up a glad shout: There she comes - and that is
dying. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further.
Bishop Brent 1862 - 1926
Remember
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 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.
Christina Rossetti 1830-1894
Death Be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called
thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For
those whom thou thinkst thou dost over throw Die
not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From
rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much
pleasure - then, from thee much more must ow;
And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest
of their bones and souls delivery. Thourt slave to
fate, chance, kings and desperate men, And dost
with poison, war and sickness dwell; And poppy
or charms can make us sleep as well, And better
than thy stroke. Why swellst thou then? One
short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death
shall be no more. Death thou shalt die.
John Donne 1572-1631
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night Old age
should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage
against the dying of the light. Though wise men
at their end know dark is right, Because their
words had forked not lightning they Do not go
gentle into that good night Good men, the last
wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might
have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against
the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and
sang the sun in ight, And learn, too late, they
grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that
good night. Grave men, near death, who see with
blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors
and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the
light. And you my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your erce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage
against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas 1914-53
But Not Forgotten
I think no matter where you stray, That I shall go
with you a way. Though you may wander sweeter
lands, You will not forget my hands, Nor yet the
way I held my head Nor the tremulous things I
said. You will still see me, small and white And
smiling, in the secret night, And feel my arms
about you when The day comes uttering back
again. I think, no matter where you be, Youll hold
me in your memory And keep my image there
without me, By telling later loves about me.
Dorothy Parker
Living Bouquets
When I quit this mortal shore And mosey round
this earth no more, Do not weep and do not sob;
I may have found a better job. Dont go and buy
a large bouquet For which youll nd it hard to
pay, Dont mope around and feel all blue; I may
be better off than you. Dont tell the folks I was
a saint Or any old thing that I aint. If you have
jam like that to spread, Please hand it out before
Im dead. If you have roses bless your soul, Just
pin one in my buttonhole While Im alive and well
today; Dont wait until Im gone away.
Anon
,

The Resurrection Prayer:
I am the resurrection and the Life, Saith the
Lord: He that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me, shall never die. I know that my
redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though his body
be destroyed, yet shall I see GOD: whom I shall
30
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not as a stranger. We brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD.
The Twenty-Third Psalm:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He
leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my
soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness
for His names sake. Even though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff,
They comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my
head with oil; my cup overows. Surely goodness
and love will follow me all the days of my life, And
I will dwell in the house of the Lord -forever.
The Lords Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily
bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
for ever and ever. Amen Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven Give us
today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we
forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the
kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now
and for ever. Amen
. The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change; courage to change the things I
can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living
one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a
time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to
peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make
all things right if I surrender to His will; That I may
be reasonably happy in this life and supremely
happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.
Peace:
Lord, Make me a channel of thy peace- That where
there is hatred, I may bring love; That where there
is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; That
where there is discord, I may bring harmony; That
where there is error, I may bring truth; That where
there is doubt, I may bring faith; That where there
is despair, I may bring hope; That where there are
shadows, I may bring light; That where there is
sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may
seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; To
understand, than be understood; To love, than be
loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one nds. It is
by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that
one awakens to nd Eternal Life.
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow Love; Where
there is injury, pardon; 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 I may seek not so much
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.
Gracious God
You surround us all our days We walk and work in
the light of your world and sleep and dream in the
gentle dark you created. Now that our working
and dreaming are done, Give us rest and a place
to call home, within the great city of your love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Father-Mother God,
We thank you for creating us in your own image,
and giving us gifts and talents with which to share
with all those whose lives we touch. We thank
you for xxxxx, the years we shared with her, the
good we saw in her, the love we received from
her. We thank you that xxxxx no longer has to
suffer pain or fear, and that for her limitations are
ended, weakness is overcome, and death itself is
conquered. As she passes from our earthly sight,
we thank you for the years of her presence among
us. And while we feel the pain of the parting, we
rejoice in the faith that she has gone to be with
you, for in your presence is the fullness of joy,
at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Bless those who had the care of xxxx, especially
the doctors, nurses and technicians. Guide and
prosper all who are engaged in medical research
and care of the elderly: may they never lose heart
in their search to discover the way of health and
healing. Grant that by their vision and courage we
may advance in our understanding of the world
and be better able to help those in need. Now
give us the strength and courage to leave xxxxx in
your care, condent in your promise of eternal life
in the kingdom of God, Love, and Light Amen
To everything there is a season, and a time to
every purpose under the heaven: A time to be
born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up that which is planted; A time to weep,
31
32
and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time
to dance; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time
to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend,
and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
[Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, verses i-ii, iv, vi-viii ]
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone young or
old alike, and today may be the last chance to
hold your loved one tight. So if you are waiting for
tomorrow, why not do it today? For if tomorrow
never comes, you will surely regret the day, you
did not take the extra time for a smile, a hug, or a
iss. You were just too busy to grant them their one
last wish. So hold your loved ones close today,
whisper in their ear. Tell them how much you love
them and youll always hold them dear. And if
tomorrow never comes, you will have no regrets
about today.
Lord God, whose days are without end and whose
mercies beyond counting, keep us mindful that
life is short and the hour of death unknown. 76
Let your Spirit guide our days on earth in the ways
of holiness and justice, that we may serve you in
union with the whole Church, sure in faith, strong
in hope, perfect in love. And when our earthly
journey is ended, lead us rejoicing into your
kingdom, where you live for ever and ever.Amen.
Now I lay me down to sleep
Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my
soul to keep If I should die before I wake I pray the
Lord my soul to take.
The Remembrance
In a time of silence, let us make our personal
thanksgiving to God For all the XXX has meant to
us For his life and our memories we give thanks
God our Father We thanks you that you have
made each of us in your own image And given
us gifts and talents with which to serve you. We
thank you for XXXX, the years we spent with him,
the good we saw in him, the love received in him.
Now give us strength and courage to leave him in
your care Condent in your promise of eternal life
Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
. A Prayer
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 Roses 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 her reminds us that our sharing In
one anothers lives brings both support and pain.
Our being parted from 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,
times tide may wash her footprints from the shore
But not our love for her nor the inuence of her
life upon our own Nor the ways in which they will
ever be a sign for us Of those things which really
matterwhich are eternal.
Hear this prayer for your loves sake.
Amen
,

Wisdom of Solomon 4:7-15
A righteous man, although he come to death,
shall be in rest. For an honourable man, old age
is not that of a long time, nor counted by the
number of years; but seniority is the wisdom of a
man, and the fullness of years is a spotless life.
Having been pleasing unto God, he is beloved;
and living among sinners he is translated to bliss.
He is carried away, lest wickedness should alter
his understanding, or deceit mislead his soul.
For the malice of evil obscureth good things,
and the smoldering of passions doth undermine
the innocent mind. Though he pass away in a
short time, yet he hath the fullness of many years;
For his soul hath been pleasing unto the Lord,
and therefore he was hastened from among the
wicked. And the people see this, but understand
it not; neither do they keep it in their minds: That
there is grace and mercy for His Saints, and
visitation for His chosen ones.
Isaiah 25:7-9
7 And he will destroy on this mountain the covering
that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread
over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for
ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from
all faces, and the reproach of his people he will
take away from all the earth; for the LORD has
spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is
our God; we have waited for him, that he might
save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for
him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Daniel 12:1-13
1 At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince
who has charge of your people. And there shall
be a time of trouble, such as never has been
since there was a nation till that time; but at that
time your people shall be delivered, every one
whose name shall be found written in the book. 2
32 33
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and
some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And
those who are wise shall shine like the brightness
of the rmament; and those who turn many to
righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal
the book, until the time of the end. Many shall
run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and behold, two others
stood, one on this bank of the stream and one
on that bank of the stream. 6 And I said to the
man clothed in linen, who was above the waters
of the stream, How long shall it be till the end
of these wonders? 7 The man clothed in linen,
who was above the waters of the stream, raised
his right hand and his left hand toward heaven;
and I heard him swear by him who lives for ever
that it would be for a time, two times, and half a
time; and that when the shattering of the power of
the holy people comes to an end all these things
would be accomplished. 8 I heard, but I did not
understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be
the issue of these things? 9 He said, Go your
way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed
until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify
themselves, and make themselves white, and
be rened; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and
none of the wicked shall understand; but those
who are wise shall understand. 11 And from
the time that the continual burnt offering is taken
away, and the abomination that makes desolate
is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred
and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and
comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-
ve days. But go your way till the end; and you
shall rest, and shall stand in your allotted place at
the end of the days.
. Acts 10:34-43
34 And Peter opened his mouth and said: Truly
I perceive that God shows no partiality, 35 but
in every nation any one who fears him and does
what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know
the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good
news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
37 the word which was proclaimed throughout all
Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism
which John preached: 38 how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power; how he went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for
God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses to all
that he did both in the country of the Jews and in
Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him
on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day
and made him manifest; 41 not to all the people
but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the
dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the
people, and to testify that he is the one ordained
by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43
To him all the prophets bear witness that every
one who believes in him receives forgiveness of
sins through his name.
Romans 6:3-9
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have
been united with him in a death like his, we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like
his. 6 We know that our old self was crucied with
him so that the sinful body might be destroyed,
and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7
For he who has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we
have died with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ being
raised from the dead will never die again; death
no longer has dominion over him.
Romans 8:14-23
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the
spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have
received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, Abba!
Father! 16 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness
with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow
heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in
order that we may also be gloried with him. 18
I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to
be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;
20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of
its own will but by the will of him who subjected
it in hope; 21 because the creation itself will be
set free from its bondage to decay and obtain
the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 We
know that the whole creation has been groaning
in travail together until now; 23 and not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the rst
fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:3l-39
31 What then shall we say to this? If God is for
us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare
his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he
not also give us all things with him? 33 Who shall
bring any charge against Gods elect? It is God
who justies; 34 who is to condemn? Is it Christ
Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the
34
dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us? 35 Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we
are being killed all the day long; we are regarded
as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 14:7-9,
7 None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies
to himself. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if
we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we
live or whether we die, we are the Lords. 9 For to
this end Christ died and lived again, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and of the living
I Corinthians 15:20-23,
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the
dead, the rst fruits of those who have fallen
asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a
man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall
all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order:
Christ the rst fruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ
I Corinthians 15:51-57
51 Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable nature must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on
immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the
imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death,
where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin
is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:1,
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our commonwealth is in heaven, and
from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will change our lowly body to be like his
glorious body, by the power which enables him
even to subject all things to himself.
2 Timothy 2:8-13
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead,
descended from David, as preached in my
gospel, 9 the gospel for which I am suffering and
wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God
is not fettered. 10 Therefore I endure everything
for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain
salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory. 11
The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we
shall also live with him; 12 if we endure, we shall
also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will
deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful-
-for he cannot deny himself.
. 1 John 3:1-2
1 That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and touched with
our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 the life
was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to
it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was
with the Father and was made manifest to us
Revelation 21:1-5,
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for
the rst heaven and the rst earth had passed
away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband; 3 and I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling of God is
with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more, neither shall there
be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the
former things have passed away.
Revelation 21:6-7
6 And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To
the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water
of life without payment. 7 He who conquers shall
have this heritage, and I will be his God and he
shall be my son.
Matthew 5:1-12
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain,
and when he sat down his disciples came to
him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught
them, saying: 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are
those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
34 35
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satised.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
or they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11
Blessed are you when men revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against
you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be
glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so
men persecuted the prophets who were before
you.
Matthew 11:25-30
25 At that time Jesus declared, I thank thee,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to babes; 26
yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 27 All
things have been delivered to me by my Father;
and no one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal
him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke
upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and
lowly in heart, and you will nd rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Luke 7:11-17
11 Soon afterward he went to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
12 As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold,
a man who had died was being carried out, the
only son of his mother, and she was a widow;
and a large crowd from the city was with her. 13
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion
on her and said to her, Do not weep. 14 And
he came and touched the bier, and the bearers
stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to
you, arise. 15 And the dead man sat up, and
began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
16 Fear seized them all; and they gloried God,
saying, A great prophet has arisen among us!
and God has visited his people! 17 And this
report concerning him spread through the whole
of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Luke 23:, 39- 43
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed
at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save
yourself and us! 40 But the other rebuked him,
saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under
the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we
indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward
of our deeds; but this man has done nothing
wrong. 42 And he said, Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. 43 And he
said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be
with me in Paradise.
John 5:24-29
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word
and believes him who sent me, has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment, but has passed
from death to life. 25 Truly, truly, I say to you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead
will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those
who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in
himself, so he has granted the Son also to have
life in himself, 27 and has given him authority to
execute judgment, because he is the Son of man.
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming
when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29 and come forth, those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life, and those who have
done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
John 6:37-40
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me;
and him who comes to me I will not cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to
do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;
39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I
should lose nothing of all that he has given me,
but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will
of my Father, that every one who sees the Son
and believes in him should have eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
John 11: 17-27
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that
Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two
miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come
to Martha and Mary to console them concerning
their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus
was coming, she went and met him, while Mary
sat in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. 22 And even now I know that whatever you
ask from God, God will give you. 23 Jesus said
to her, Your brother will rise again. 24 Martha
said to him, I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said to
her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never
die. Do you believe this? 27 She said to him,
Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the
Son of God, he who is coming into the world.
. Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for
every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born,
and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to
36
pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a
time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to
build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time
to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to
lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love,
and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for
peace. 9 What gain has the worker from his toil?
10 I have seen the business that God has given
to the sons of men to be busy with. 11 He has
made everything beautiful in its time; also he has
put eternity into mans mind, yet so that he cannot
nd out what God has done from the beginning to
the end.
Isaiah 35:1-6,
1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the
crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice
with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall
be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty
of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and
make rm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who
are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not! Behold,
your God will come with vengeance, with the
recompense of God. He will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and
the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the
lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in
the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
Isaiah 41:8-10,
8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have
chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9
you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and
called from its farthest corners, saying to you,
You are my servant, I have chosen you and not
cast you off; 10 fear not, for I am with you, be not
dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you,
I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious
right hand.
Isaiah 61.1-3
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because
the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings
to the aficted; he has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are
bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORDs favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in
Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the
oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of
praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be
called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the
LORD, that he may be gloried.
Zephaniah 3:16-20
17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a
warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you
with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he
will exult over you with loud singing 18 as on a
day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so
that you will not bear reproach for it. 19 Behold, at
that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And
I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I
will change their shame into praise and renown in
all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you together; yea, I will
make you renowned and praised among all the
peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the LORD.
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the
Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and
on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches
of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened
with might through his Spirit in the inner man, 17
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, 18 may have power to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, 19 and to know the love of
Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may
be lled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to
him who by the power at work within us is able
to do far more abundantly than all that we ask
or think, 21 to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Timothy 4:6-8,
6 For I am already on the point of being sacriced;
the time of my departure has come. 7 I have
fought the good ght, I have nished the race,
I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid
up for me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on
that Day, and not only to me but also to all who
have loved his appearing
Peter 1:3-9
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been
born anew to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and to an
inheritance which is imperishable, undeled, and
unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by Gods
power are guarded through faith for a salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have
36
to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness
of your faith, more precious than gold which
though perishable is tested by re, may redound
to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. 8 Without having seen him you love
him; though you do not now see him you believe
in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted
joy. 9 As the outcome of your faith you obtain the
salvation of your souls.
Matthew 6:19-23
19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust consume and where
thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do
not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. 22 The eye is
the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound,
your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your
eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how
great is the darkness!
John 3:13-17
13 No one has ascended into heaven but he
who descended from heaven, the Son of man.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal
life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent
the Son into the world, not to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
John 10:27-30
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and no one
shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father,
who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Fathers hand.
37
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A colllection of Poems, Quotes & Prayers for Eulogies

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General Quotes ................................................................

A Poem for a Husband .....................................................

1. When You Lose A Parent You Lose Your Past

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