I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.

~ Helen Lowrie Marshall

Sorrow swallowed me into the cruel black sea,
The icy cold water washed over me,
Memories spin around in my mind,
Causing dark lucid dreams of every kind.
Grief and misery played their part,
Leaving behind a broken heart.

Slowly the water ebbed away,
The blackness mellowed to a shade of grey,
Time as the healer showed the way,
Helping me to cope day by day,
Fear subsiding, confidence reigns,
Ready to face the world again.

The waters now are calm and clear,
My life again is full of cheer,
Smiles return and with them light,
The grey is replaced by colours so bright,
Though life was cruel, when it took you away,
I look to the future as a brand new day.

When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on in your eyes
And not your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

If I should die and leave you here awhile,
Be not like others, sore undone, who keep
Long vigils by the silent dust, and weep.
For my sake – turn again to life and smile,
Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do
Something to comfort other hearts than thine.
Complete those dear unfinished tasks of mine
And I, perchance, may therein comfort you.

~ A. Price Hughes

The pine that stands upon the wooded mountain
Gains not in stature in a single day;
The noble river springs not from one fountain,
But gathers up its strength along its way.

The aloe hears for years the autumn’s dirges,
Before it shows its blossoms to the skies;
The coral reef, that breaks the ocean’s surges,
Through centuries of growth alone can rise.

Thus, through her works, Dame Nature offers ever
For our acceptance one persistent thought:
’Tis but by patient, sturdy, brave endeavor,
The greatest, best, and grandest things are wrought.