Friday, September 08, 2006

Dedicated To Those Who Have Lost a Loved One......

Lately it seems that a lot of people have been losing loved ones, here in "blog land" and also in the "every day land".
This is something I read in a novel...... a Taylor Caldwell I believe. It touched me so much that I wrote it down and saved it. Now I can share it with you.
I haven`t yet experienced losing someone close. I was very young unfortunately when all of my grandparents passed on and my own parents are still blessedly very healthy and active at 74.
The closest thing for me has been to lose my two dogs. Those were sad and rough time for me. I can`t begin to grasp a person. I don`t want to. It terrifies me.


But to those who have lost recently and those who have lost in the past........this is very beautiful and this is for you........ xox

“Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well."

Henry Scott Holland

** painting - "Vigil" by Valkyries **

9 comments:

Lisa said...

Very poignant - I haven't lost anyone close to me yet - all my grandparents are still alive. But this piece is very moving

Rowan said...

I have a poem along similar lines that I've written out and want to have read when my turn comes to pass to the Summerlands. I'll put it on my blog at some stage. I've lost both my parents and two close friends, various aunts and uncles so I do know how it feels. I find the passage very comforting but at the time nothing much helps - it's only later that the idea begins to mean something.

Miss Robyn said...

I love this piece - it was read at a funeral that I attended once. thankyou for being so caring and sharing this for those who have lost. xoxo

Jeanne said...

Very lovely and comforting words.
I had that verse for some time and find it so wonderful as is your painting posted.
Treasure every moment of joy it will brace you for the storms in life.
Love and hugs.
Happy Weekend!
Love Jeanne ^j^

Anonymous said...

Thank you for such a beautiful post. You write with such intuitiveness and sensitivity, your words resonate deeply with me. I have lost a number of people in my life but most recently I lost someone that I loved very much. This passage has given me great comfort as I am sure it will do the same for many others. Thank you. TWT

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing this.
My father is at the door that leads beyond this place . . . I will miss him. I will remember all his funny ways.

Naturegirl said...

Truly comforting words. You know losing a beloved pet is no different in how you grieve a human because pets are part of the family and when one member passes on
we grieve! The stages we must go through to accept death is the same. You know I have also been finding that people are losing either their pets or family members to death as of late?? Is it some
negative energy in the universe?

rel said...

Tea.
It's thoughts like these, together with the passing of time that help a person get on with living.
Thanks,
rel

Christine Boles said...

Tea,
I lost my husband of 6 months (6+ years of friendship!) in 2000.
I'd been in unrequited love with him for so long during our friendship, almost 5 years before he finally asked me to marry him, that I was sure losing him to a quick cancer would make me lose my mind. That's when I learned about the mysterious depths of God's grace. I'd heard about it, but hadn't been on the receiving end of it in such a powerful way.

Then his parents, then my 2 grandmothers died. But by that time, I was covered.

It doesn't help to know this now, but you actually are given the strength and grace to handle something, when it comes to you. Not before, but during the horrible times, the Grace is willing to cover you.
That's what I found, anyway.