In the Next Room

Indian Rocks Beach, 2008

I don't tend to post things that aren't my own, but, this morning, I pulled a well-loved book off my shelf in order to re-experience some comforting words that I discovered many years ago.  I share them with love:

In the Next Room

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 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.

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 around the corner.

All is well.

Canon Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918), England