Rembering you

Death is not the end...the dead are here with us...You cannot see them with the human eye. But you can sense the presence of those you love who have died...You can feel that they are near. -from Anam Cara by John O'Donohue

Memory eternal Raymond Edward Swanson

February 11, 1927-March 24, 2011

Messenger

Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird-

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

 

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

 

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

 which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up-clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever. 

O death, where is thy sting? O Hades where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!...Christ is risen and life reigns! -from The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom