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Simply..a last gift....

4/12/2019

10 Comments

 

A few weeks ago, on a day when I was missing him particularly badly, I found  a page torn from a notebook with a poem written on it in Barry, my late husband's handwriting.  Because of where I found it I know it must have passed through my hands since he died in February 2016, but somehow it didn't register with me then.

This is the poem, by Mary Elizabeth Frye. I expect many of you know it

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 sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you waken 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.

It felt like a timely gift from him.

Just a day or two later I cnanced upon this poem by Rumi


I died as a mineral
and became a plant
I died as a plant
and rose to animal
I died as animal
and I was human
Why should I fear?
When was I less by dying?


Barry's ashes are scattered here where daisies grow and on the shore with flocks of birds all around, and on the day of gentle autumn rain when I wrote this post, these poems comforted me.
10 Comments
Grace
4/12/2019 10:19:58 pm

Such beautiful words, both poems and from you Freda. It is such a comfort to know that our connection to Nature will go on beyond this life. It brings a sense of peace.

Reply
PennyL
5/12/2019 12:12:38 am

How lovely that it was that poem you found. I’m sure that it must have been a comfort to you, and that Barry would have been so grateful to have been able to have provided you with that comfort. This time of year must feel sad at times on many levels, sending love . Pennyx

Reply
MaryB
5/12/2019 03:23:13 am

Comforting words and perfect timing. Somehow loss balances the excess of Christmas and enables us to appreciate quieter joys of the Christmas season.
Sending this with a hug but you will be glad that its from a distance as we have flu bugs in abundance!!!

Reply
julia
5/12/2019 03:34:52 am

Freda, you story is simply astounding. and so touching too. the poems are very, very beautiful. there can't be a reader here who is not touched to read this post. thank you. hugs to you!

Reply
Liz G
5/12/2019 06:19:02 am

Grief is a strange thing. Overwhelms out of the blue. The trick is to not question, but let the feeling run, because bottling it up and being British and stoic just hurts more and longer. I think of it as a bucket of feeling that fills slowly and then suddenly overflows without warning, rhyme or reason. It just IS. Remember you are far from alone in this

Reply
cath
5/12/2019 08:36:21 am

Sometimes it seems to me that words find us as we need them the most.

Reply
MaryB
5/12/2019 09:16:46 am

I have certainly found that to be true . Comfort when we most need it.

Reply
Mary
5/12/2019 10:38:19 am

XO

Reply
Gillie
5/12/2019 12:54:28 pm

Thinking of you so fondly reading this. What a lovely poem for you to find ...... very timely.

Reply
Freda
5/12/2019 01:53:10 pm

Thank you for sharing, x

Reply



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    Simply Christmas
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    Simply Draw
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    Categories

    All
    Live Simply
    Live Simply
    Simple
    Simply Beautiful
    Simply Bin It
    Simply Chill
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Do A Good Deed
    Simply Draw
    Simply Draw
    Simply Eat
    Simply Fitter
    Simply Fun
    Simply Get Rid
    Simply Grow
    Simply Headspace
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    Simply Money
    Simply Move
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    Simply Paint
    Simply Routine
    Simply Seeing.. Or Not
    Simply Stylish
    Simply Venice
    Simply Write


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    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

    All words and images copyright Freda Waldapfel 2010 - 2020

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