Readings

In This Hour of Holy Stillness

In this hour of holy stillness
we gather
to honor the life and the person we love.

In this hour of Holy Stillness
we remind ourselves that flames of life and love
are never fully extinguished.

In this hour of Holy Stillness
we offer ourselves
for sharing the weight of each other’s grief.

In this hour of Holy Stillness
we offer the strength of our love
to help others survive their pain and grief.

In tis hour of Holy Stillness
we call forth from each of us
the power we offer out of life, out of loss,
out of Love.

by Patricia Shelden

Wherever You Go Now

Wherever you go now, I go with you.
I am the wind - I tousle your hair,
Fling it away from brow and temple,
Back from your cheek and your small ear bare,
Wherever you go now.
I am the sunlight that wakens you,
I am your shadow along the grass,
In the quickset hedges when you go walking
I dance on the leaves to see you pass.
Wherever you go now.

In autumn that scatters rain on your windows,
In winter that brings the silent snow
To lift long night from earth’s laden shoulders,
My step by your side you still may know.
Wherever you go now.

Stare at the fire, at the corded moulding
That holds the ash on the fire-back there.
Do you not hear me? I am with you.
My hands are stroking your firelit hair,
And you may rest now.

by John Buxton

Epitaph

When I die
Give what's left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I've known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on your eyes
And not on your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting
Bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn't die,
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away

by Merrit Malloy

A Poem by Mary Oliver

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things:
To love what is mortal,
To hold it against your bones knowing that your own life depends upon it,
And when the time comes to let it go,
Let it go.

by Mary Oliver

Let Us Be Honest with Death

Let us be honest with death. Let us not pretend that it is less than it is. It is separation. It is sorrow. It is grief. But let us neither pretend that death is more than it is. It is not annihilation. As long as memory endures, her influence will be felt. It is not an end to Love - humanity’s need for love from each of us is boundless. It is not an end to joy and laughter - nothing would loss honor loving soul than to make our lives drab in counterfeit respect. Let us be honest with death, for in that honesty, we will understand her better and ourselves more deeply.

by A. Powell Davies

For a Time of Sorrow

I share with you the agony of your grief,
the anguish in your heart finds echo in my own.
I know i cannot enter all you feel
Nor bear with you the burden of your pain;
I can but offer what my love does give:
the strength of caring
the warmth of one who seeks to understand
The silent storm-swept barrenness of so great a Loss.
This I do in my uite ways,
That on your lonely path
You may not walk alone.

by Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman

Remember by Christina Rossetti

A Prayer By Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I have 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 while, and
afterward remember me, do not grieve,
For is 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.

by Christina Rossetti