Bye Dawn – you are at peace because Death is nothing at all

Posted by Reggie James | July 13th, 2009 | Filed under Uncategorized

I sadly attended the funeral of my wife’s Aunt who sadly passed away last on Friday 6th July at the Trinity Hospice in Clapham, South West London.

The funeral was on the following Wednesday and I was asked by the family to read a few words as they were understandably too distraught with the death of this fine, caring and beautiful woman.

Dawn was a meticulous planner and in typical fashion had arranged all the funeral service so as not to be a burden to us in mourning her passing.
She had requested that the poem Death is nothing at all by Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral be read out at her service and this is what I read to the few that had gathered to see her on her final journey.

It was a moving experience and I thought I would share the poem with you.

Reggie

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral

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