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It must be borne in
mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in
having no goal to reach.
It is not a calamity
to die with dreams unfulfilled.
But it is a calamity
not to dream.
It is not a disaster
to be unable to capture your ideal,
But it is a disaster
to no ideal to capture.
It is not a disgrace
not to reach the stars.
But it is a disgrace
not to have stars to reach for.
Not failure, but low
aim is a sin.
Dr Benjamin
Elijah Mays
1894-1984
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Do not stand at my
grave and weep
Do not stand at my
grave and weep
I am not there, I do
not sleep
I am a Thousand winds
that blow
I am the diamond
glints on snow
I am the sun on
ripened grain
I am the gentle
autumn rain
When you awaken in
the morning's hush
I am the swift
uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star
that shines at night
Do not stand at my
grave and cry
I am not there; I
did not die.
Anonymous
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All Is Well
Death is nothing at
all,
I have only slipped
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.
Let my name be ever
the household world that it always was,
Let it be spoken
without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that
it ever meant.
It it the same as it
ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
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.
Henry Scott
Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St Paul's Cathedral
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A Child Loaned
"I'll lend you for a
little time
A child of Mine." He
said.
"For you to love the
while he lives
And mourn for when
he's dead.
It may be six or
seven year
Or twenty-two or
three
But will you, till I
call him back
Take care of him for
Me?
He'll bring his
charms to gladden you
And should his stay
be brief,
You'll have his
lovely memories
As solace for your
grief.
I cannot promise he
will stay
Since all from Earth
return,
But there are
lessons taught down there
I want the child to
learn.
I've looked this
wide world over
In my search for
teacher's true,
And from the throngs
that crowd life's lanes,
I have selected you;
Now will you give
him all your love,
Nor think the labour
vain
Nor hate Me when I
come to call
And take him back
again?
I fancied that I
heard them say,
"Dear Lord, They
will be done,
For all the joy Thy
child shall bring,
For the risk of
grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him
with tenderness,
We'll love him while
we may,
And for the
happiness we've known,
Forever grateful
stay.
But should the
angels call for him
Much sooner than we
planned,
We'll brave the
bitter grief that comes
And try to
understand."
Anonymous
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High Flight
Oh, I have slipped
the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies
on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward I've climbed
and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun split clouds
- and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed
of; wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit
silence. Hovering there
I've chased the
shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft
through footless halls of air;
Up, up the long
delirious burning blue
I've topped the
windswept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark nor
even eagle flew;
And while, with
silent lifting mind I've trod
The high,
untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand and
touched the face of God.
Fl. Officer
John Gillespie McGee
1922-1941
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Farewell
Farewell to Thee!
But not farewell
To all my fondest
thoughts of Thee;
Within my heart they
still shall dwell
And they shall cheer
and comfort me.
Life seems more
sweet that Thou didst live
And men more true
Thou wert one;
Nothing is lost that
Thou didst give,
Nothing destroyed
that Thou hast done.
Anne Bronte
1820-1849
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Life Goes On
If I should go
before the rest of you
Break not a flower
Nor inscribe a stone
Nor when I am gone
Speak in a Sunday
voice
But be the usual
selves
That I have known
Weep if you must
Parting is hell
But life goes on
So .... sing as well
Joyce Grenfell
1910-1979
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Indian Prayer
When I am dead
Cry for me a little
Think of me
sometimes
But not too much.
Think of me now and
again
As I was in life
At some moments it's
pleasant to recall
But not for long.
Leave me in peace
And I shall leave
you in peace
And while you live
Let your thoughts be
with the living.
Traditional
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If I should go
tomorrow
If I should go
tomorrow
It would never be
goodbye,
For I have left my
heart with you,
So don't you ever
cry.
The love that's deep
within me,
Shall reach you from
the stars,
You'll feel it from
the heavens,
And it will heal the
scars.
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He is Gone
You can shed tears
that he is gone,
Or you can smile
because he lived,
You can close your
eyes and pray that he will come back,
Or you can open your
eyes and see all that he has left.
Your heart can be
empty because you can't see him
Or you can be full
of the love that 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 him
and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish
his memory and let it live on,
You can cry and
close your mind be empty and turn your
back,
Or you can do what
he would want: smile, open your eyes,
love and go on.
Anonymous
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A
ship sails
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. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, Oh Lord,
that we may see further.
Bishop Brent
1862 - 1926
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Remember
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.
Christina
Rossetti
1830-1894
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Death Be Not
Proud
Death, be not
proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful,
for thou art not so;
For those whom thou
think'st thou dost over throw
Die not, poor Death,
nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep,
which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure -
then, from thee much more must flow;
And soonest our best
men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones
and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to
fate, chance, kings and desperate men,
And dost with
poison, war and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms
can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy
stroke. Why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep
past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be
no more. Death thou shalt die.
John Donne
1572-1631
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Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle
into that good night
Old age should burn
and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against
the dying of the light.
Though wise men at
their end know dark is right,
Because their words
had forked not lightning they
Do not go gentle
into that good night
Good men, the last
wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds
might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against
the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught
and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late,
they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle
into that good night.
Grave men, near
death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could
blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against
the dying of the light.
And you my father,
there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now
with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle
into that good night.
Rage, rage against
the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
1914-53
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But Not Forgotten
I think no matter
where you stray,
That I shall go with
you a way.
Though you may
wander sweeter lands,
You will not forget
my hands,
Nor yet the way I
held my head
Nor the tremulous
things I said.
You will still see
me, small and white
And smiling, in the
secret night,
And feel my arms
about you when
The day comes
fluttering back again.
I think, no matter
where you be,
You'll hold me in
your memory
And keep my image
there without me,
By telling later
loves about me.
Dorothy Parker
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Living Bouquets
When I quit this
mortal shore
And mosey 'round
this earth no more,
Do not weep and do
not sob;
I may have found a
better job.
Don't go and buy a
large bouquet
For which you'll
find it hard to pay,
Don't mope around
and feel all blue;
I may be better off
than you.
Don't tell the folks
I was a saint
Or any old thing
that I ain't.
If you have jam like
that to spread,
Please hand it out
before I'm dead.
If you have roses
bless your soul,
Just pin one in my
buttonhole
While I'm alive and
well today;
Don't wait until I'm
gone away.
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