It is only the dead who do not return.

It is only the dead who do not return.

Don't strew me with roses after I'm dead. When Death claims the light of my brow No flowers of life read more

Don't strew me with roses after I'm dead. When Death claims the light of my brow No flowers of life will cheer me: instead You may give me my roses now!

If man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted read more

If man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted should betray his trust, and, in short, of coming eventually to hopeless misery. He would break down, at last, as every good fortune, as every dynasty, as every civilization does. In place of this we have death.

So fades a summer cloud away;
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts read more

So fades a summer cloud away;
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts the eye of day;
So dies a wave along the shore.

Now comes the mystery.

Now comes the mystery.

Men fear Death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that
natural fear in children is read more

Men fear Death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that
natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the
other.

The death-change comes.
Death is another life. We bow our heads
At going out, we think, and read more

The death-change comes.
Death is another life. We bow our heads
At going out, we think, and enter straight
Another golden chamber of the king's
Larger than this we leave, and lovelier.
And then in shadowy glimpses, disconnect,
The story, flower-like, closes thus its leaves.
The will of God is all in all. He makes,
Destroys, remakes, for His own pleasure, all.

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable read more

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.