It is nearing that time of year when special marked dates, meaningful to my family and I, make me pause to think of all the dearly departed ones we have lost. Losing a close family member is something that you will never get over. You will get used to it, in time. The grief can resurface at the most unexpected of times, a whisper becomes a roar of emotion, and you find yourself right back at the emotional state you were in at the time of loss.
The reason that many people have a coping mechanism of suppressing grief for bereaved loved ones, is because it hurts. The reason it hurts, is because when you peel back the pain and look behind it, you will find love.
We have all lost loved ones.
I wanted to share an adapted poem, originally written by Henry Scott Holland, an English clergyman, in 1910.
May you find solace in these words, whenever you may need them.
Poem reading:
Death is Nothing at all
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to 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 we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of 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 that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
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.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together.
Death is but an illusion.
Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok-based journalistic infidel impervious to propaganda. If you liked this content and wish to support the work, buy him a coffee or consider a crypto donation:
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my only sister died 11/27/92
recently, I bumped into this song, and have been listening to it too many times, crying every time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaSdz7-ZzIg
Countless through the ages have noted most people act like they are going to live forever, while also fearing death as if it's the worst thing that can happen. It's just about the most neurotic thing imaginable.
All fear at it's root is fear of death. Once you reconcile this, you live without fear. Then you can truly enjoy the speck of time allotted to you in this lifetime. I believe this is what the Buda meant when he said "To truly live, you must die while you are alive".