Death is nothing / Sonnet / Delia Allan Tomlin's Mum
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, 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 always
enjoyed together. Pray, smile,
think of me, pray for me. Let
my name be ever 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
un-broken continuity. Why
should I be out of mind
because I am out of site? I am
waiting for you, for an
interval, somewhere very near,
just round the corner. All is
well.
Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Cannon of St Paul’s
Cathedral
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