Obituaries

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Though we need to weep your loss, You dwell in that safe place in our hearts, Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn Brightening over our lives Awakening beneath the dark A further adventure of colour.

The sound of your voice Found for us A new music That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze Quickened in the joy of its being; You placed smiles like flowers On the altar of the heart. Your mind always sparkled With wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief, Your spirit was live, awake, complete.

We look towards each other no longer From the old distance of our names; Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath, As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes, We know our soul's gaze is upon your face, Smiling back at us from within everything To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory, Where we would grow lonely without you. You would want us to find you in presence, Beside us when beauty brightens, When kindness glows And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth, Darkest winter has turned to spring; May this dark grief flower with hope In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:

To enter each day with a generous heart. To serve the call of courage and love Until we see your beautiful face again In that land where there is no more separation, Where all tears will be wiped from our mind, And where we will never lose you again.

Philosopher and poet John O’Donohue has a gift with his words that can best be described through this quote by Martin Wroe: “[John O’Donohue] believed that it is within our power to transform our fear of death so that we need fear little else this life brings.” Just like the poem above, the pain we feel is truly powerful in the sense that it can move mountains and change the world. It’s important not to forget that.