Death is Nothing at All

“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 familiar

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 enjoyed together. Let my name be ever the

household word that it always was, let it be

spoken without effort, without the trace of a

shadow on it. Life means all that it ever

meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is

unbroken continuity. 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 round the corner.

All is well.”

Henry Scott Holland

1847 – 1918

Canon of St Pauls Cathedral