04/11/2023
It is unusual, after a funeral, to have people queuing up to discover the provenance of the poem they just heard. You may care to read it too.
Here I Am
Here I am,
at the end of the journey that I so often feared to think about.
How strange that it should have been so simple, after all;
so natural, and that I should be here so soon.
I expected darkness, stillness, silence.
I wondered if I might be no more.
Instead, I have this new beginning: this dawn; this bright new day,
and a gentle pathway that stretches out before me.
I expected darkness: there is light.
I expected stillness: there is life.
I expected silence: there is a music in the air, a murmur in the trees, and voices calling to me across broad, sunlit fields.
I came to this place old, tired, hurting with the pain of life.
Now I am young, and strong, and well.
I yearn to walk, to run, to use this new-found energy,
To explore, and to enjoy, this new-found life.
I feared to be alone.
Strange to think that I never was.
I know that now.
At what I thought was the ending,
and the beginning of the never-ending darkness,
there, most of all, I was not alone, never alone.
A hand guided me, a voice spoke to my soul,
And there was peace.
Unutterable peace.
Those voices are still calling to me.
I must go to them, find them, fling my arms around them,
With the sheer joy of living together all over again,
With this new energy, with these new dreams.
What a wonderful, wonderful adventure we will have.
So, fear nothing when your time comes.
Not the pain, not the darkness.
Be still, and know.
And I will come for you,
And welcome you home.
--- oOo ---
If you wish to use this poem in a service of your own, let me know, and I will be happy to give you my permission to quote and use the text.
