“I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
“Then, someone at my side says, ‘There, she is gone’
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.”Her diminished size is in me — not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, ‘There, she is gone,’
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, ‘Here she comes!’
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.”Her diminished size is in me — not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, ‘There, she is 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…”
(Poem attributed to Henry Van Dyke)
Today I am remembering my dear Mother and friend who passed away in March. Oh how I miss her and love her. Today is her birthday and my thoughts are turned to the kind and beautiful person that she was and I’m sure still is. I love you forever Mom.
2 comments
Your mom was a very special person and we all join in missing her today, on her birthday. I can’t stop thinking about how much we enjoyed laughing together and how we’d laugh so hard, we couldn’t breathe. I don’t do that very often, anymore. I think she took that with her. All the best to you, my friend.
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Thank you Kathy. You are such a good friend. I can still hear her laugh and it brings so much joy to me. I miss her and love her so much. I know our reunion will be sweet one day when I go to meet her one more time.