14.02.1942 - 13.07.1996
Husband of my sister Alicia
A man of outward conformity but of indomitable individuality
Of infinite cheer, and a bad word for no-one
In all, a man I would like to resemble
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 still are.
Call me by my old familar 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 enjoy together.
Pray smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect
Without the trace of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever was,
There is an 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.
Canon Henry Scott Holland