Mum

I am standing by 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 until at last she hangs like a peck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says :
- 'There she goes!

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 places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says:
- 'There she goes! ',
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :
- 'Here she comes!'

-----

This afternoon my Mum passed away, her passing comes as a relief to us all, she had suffered enough. We are grateful to the staff at St Ann's Hospice who have cared for her so well this last few days. My Dad, wife and I were at her bedside to be with her as she passed through the veil. We're thankful for the knowledge that just like the ship spoken of above, she will be welcomed by loving family on the other side.

Parable of immortality by Henry Van Dyke - 1852 - 1933 

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