Thursday, October 20, 2016
We pray that this poem on dying that looks at death from a different vantage point may provide some consolation to the family and friends at this sad time. Neighbours on Fire lane 11A. Bob & Vivienne Coffey
Gone from my Sight
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength
and I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says: “There, she’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side;
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her;
and just at the moment when someone at my side says:
“There, she’s gone!”, there are other eyes watching her coming
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout –
“Here she comes!”.
And that is dying.
Henry Van Dyke
