"To weep is to make less the depth of grief." Patrick - 23rd October 2019

TOGETHERNESS. Death is nothing at all - I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way in which you always used. Laugh at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be the household word that it always was; let it be spoken without effort. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was, why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your 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 for ever we will all be together again.

Mum had a copy of this poem amongst her belongings. She discovered it at Patrick's and Karen's funeral for their daughter, Ada. '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 the snow. I am the sunlight 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 circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did not die. Mary Elizabeth Frye