DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL

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 old familiar name;

   Speak to me in the easy way

 Which you always used.

   Put no forced diffence in your tone,

 Wear no air of soleminity or sorrow,

   Laugh as we always laughed,

 At the little jokes we enjoyed together.

   Let my name be ever the household word

 That it always was.

   Let it be spoken with effect

 Without the trace of a shadow in it,

   Life means all 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!