Light

    Hugh O'donnell

    My little man, down what centuries of light did you travel to reach us here, your stay so short-lived;
    In the twinkling of an eye you were moving on, bearing our name and a splinter of the human cross we suffer; flashed upon us like a beacon, we wait in darkness for that light to come round, knowing at heart you shine forever for us.

    Miss me, but let me go

    Edgar A. Guest

    When I come to the end of the road
    And the sun has set for me,
    I want no rites in a gloom filled room
    Why cry for a soul set free!
    Miss me a little, but not for long,
    And not with your head bowed low.
    Remember the love we once shared,
    Miss me, but let me go!
    For this a journey we all must take,
    And each must go alone;
    It's all a part of the master's plan
    A step on the road to home.
    When you are lonely and sick of heart
    Go to the friends we know,
    And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds,
    Miss me, but let me go.

    Musée des Beaux Arts

    W.H. Auden

    About suffering they were never wrong.
    The Old Masters: how well they understood
    Its human position: How it takes place
    While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along:
    How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
    For the miraculous birth, there always must be
    On a pond at the edge of the wood:
    They never forgot
    That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
    Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
    Where the dogs go with their doggy life and the torturer' horse
    Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

    In Brueghel's Icarus for instance: how everything turns away
    Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
    Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
    But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
    Water and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
    Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
    Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

    My Days Among the Dead are Passed

    Robert Southey

    My days among the Dead are passed; Around me I behold, where e'r these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old; my never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day.

    With them I take delight in weal, And seek relief in woe; And while I understand and feel How much to them I owe, My cheeks have often been bedewed With tears of thoughtful gratitude.

    My thoughts are with the Dead; With them I live in long-past years, Their virtues love, their faults condemn, Partake their hopes and fears, And from their lessons seek and find Instruction with an humble mind.

    My hopes are with the Dead; anon My place with them will be, And I with them shall travel on Through all Futurity; Yet leaving here a name, I trust, That will not perish in the dust.

    No Worst, There Is None

    Gerard Manley Hopkins

    No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
    More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
    Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
    Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
    My cries heave, herds-long, huddle in the main, a chief
    Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing -
    Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No ling-
    ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief.

    O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
    Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
    May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
    Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
    Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind; all
    Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

    Of Joy And Sorrow

    Kahlil Gibran

    Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."
    And he answered:
    Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
    And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
    And how else can it be?
    The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. .
    Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
    And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
    When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
    When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

    Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
    Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

    Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
    Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
    When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

    On the Eve of His Execution

    Chidtock Tichborne

    My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
    My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
    My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
    And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
    The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
    And now I live, and now my life is done.

    My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
    My fruit is fallen and yet my leaves are green,
    My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
    I was the world and yet I was not seen;
    My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
    And now I live, and now my life is done.

    I sought my death and found it in my womb,
    I looked for life and found it was a shade,
    I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
    And now I die, and now I was but made;
    My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
    And now I live, ad now my life is done.

    Psalm 121 - I lift up my eyes

    I lift up my eyes to the hills --
    where does my help come from?
    My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

    He will not let your foot slip --
    He who watches over you will not slumber;
    indeed, He who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

    The Lord watches over you --
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
    the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

    The Lord will keep you from all harm --
    He will watch over your life;
    the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forever more.

    Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd

    The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
    He leadeth me beside the still waters.
    He restoreth my soul;
    He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
    Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
    Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
    Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

    Psalm 69 - A prayer for salvation

    Psalm 69:1-3, 15-17

    Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.

    I stick fast and deep mire, where no ground is: I am come into deep waters so that the floods run over me.

    I am weary of crying: my throat is dry: my sight faileth me for waiting so long upon my God...

    Take me out of the mire, that I sink not: O let me be delivered from that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

    Let not the water-flood drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

    Hear me, O Lord, for thy loving-kindness is comfortable: turn thee unto me according to the multitude of thy mercies.

    Remember

    Christina Georgina Rosetti

    Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray.

    Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

    She Is Gone

    David Harkins

    You can shed tears that she is gone
    or you can smile because she has lived.

    You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
    or you can open your eyes and see all she has left.

    Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
    or you can be full of the love you shared.

    You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
    or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

    You can remember her and only that she's gone
    or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

    You can cry and close your mind,
    be empty and turn your back

    or you can do what she would want:
    smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

    Song

    Christina Georgina Rosetti

    When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady Cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dew drops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.

    I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale, Sing on, as if in pain; And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

    The Lord is my Shepherd

    Psalm 23

    The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
    He leadeth me beside the still waters.
    He restoreth my soul;
    He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
    Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
    Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
    Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

    The Lord's Prayer

    Our Father who art in heaven,
    hallowed be thy name.
    Thy kingdom come.
    Thy will be done
    on earth as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our trespasses,
    as we forgive those who trespass against us,
    and lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.
    For thine is the kingdom,
    and the power, and the glory,
    for ever and ever.
    Amen.

    The Lord's Prayer - Catholic

    Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
    Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
    as we forgive those who trespass against us,
    and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
    Amen

    The Lord's Prayer - Modern

    Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name,
    your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
    Give us today our daily bread.
    Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
    Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
    For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever.
    Amen

    The Ship (She is gone)

    Bishop Brent

    A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says She is gone

    Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her.

    Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.

    And just at the moment when someone at my side says she is gone there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout There she comes!

    That is what dying is. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.

    Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further.

    The Ship (What is dying)

    Bishop Brent

    I am standing on the sea shore,
    A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
    She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
    Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
    "She is gone."

    Gone! Where?
    Gone from my sight -m that is all.
    She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
    And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
    The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
    not in her.

    And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
    "She is gone",
    There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
    "There she comes"
    - and that is dying.

    The Stag Cries

    The Priest Fujiwara No Toshinari

    In all the world
    There is no way whatever.
    The stag cries even
    In the most remote mountain.

With Grace