All is Well
Henry Scott Holland
Ever lost a
loved one? Or vicariously shared someone else's loss? You may not
subscribe to an organised religion but there's spiritual comfort in
this. Pick yourself up and move on, friend. All is well.
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 familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no effort into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household name word that it always was, let it be spoken without effect, 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 around the corner.
All is well.
