"Death is nothing at all"
"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.
Nothing is hurt; 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!"
--Henry Scott Holland (1910)
Holland was an English clergyman who, in 1910, wrote a sermon following the death of King Edward VII entitled "Death the King of Terrors" which he delivered at St. Paul's Cathedral while the body of King Edward was lying in state at Westminster. The above excerpt has become known as "Death is nothing at all."
i heard this last night while watching an episode of the tv show Ghost Whisperer and decided to look it up. the last sentence really hits me. i guess the whole piece hits me and i wanted to share it with everyone who comes here.
forty years ago yesterday, on the fourth of july, my nana died. it was a life-altering event for me; she was my "other" mom and it was my first major loss. i used to think of her death on the 4th as her own independence day--which it probably was.
three days ago there were five incidents that occurred that reminded me of each of my five canine companions i have loved and lost. the final occurrence was a post here about someone who had lost their border collie. i told my daughter about it and said that the picture that was posted of the border collie looked like the twin of our dog. my daughter was skeptical (she thinks i exaggerate and sometimes i do) and wanted to see the photo. i showed her and she was shocked--even got a bit teary-eyed.
i asked her why--why was i given reminders of all of them, all within a day? it's never happened before. and she said "maybe they all just wanted to say hi and let you know they were thinking of you."
maybe so.
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