Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away 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 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 always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word
That it always was

Let it be spoken without effect
Without the ghost of a shadow in it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
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

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 with Christ

©Henry Scott Holland
(1847-1918) Canon of St Paul's Cathedral