Go Gently

Youngest Daughter wrote this poem in December, and I wanted to share it with my readers.




Go Gently Into That Good Night

“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
These are words that are well known
To any who quake at the sight
Of going to our divine home.
The greatness before us as we go
Into the darkness, grave and deep,
Is shattering to those below,
So that our souls do break and weep.
The night, though, does not frighten me,
For I have heard the legends said:
The happiness they say you see,
The care death brings, when life has fled.

But to those who stay behind
Death is a grievous blow.
Enough so that a few have mind
To join in the eternal flow
Of angel’s song, with loved ones dear.
But most stay behind and shed
A tear for those who stay down here,
And also for those who have fled.
But death, my friends, so I have heard,
Is everything that you could hope.
So why our tears, our spoken word,
The way we simply have to cope?

We weep for those who stay behind,
While loved ones go to greater things.
We weep, for who would have the mind
For cheerful shouts and joyous rings
As they go where we cannot
Until we join them in our time
And love again, in that holy spot
Where joy is reason, love is rhyme?

We weep, yes, it should be so
When they leave us, but I say
If it is in pain they go
Then let them be. If I may
Care to say so, let me tell
That if in pain, and death is near,
Do not make your loved ones dwell.
Do not make them linger here
For then we think of us alone,
We think of how afraid we’ll be
And sad, as well, as they are shown
Into the world we’ll one day see
A part of, but now we go on.
But if in pain, then they should not.
If a young life, I am wrong.
If life is full, then I am not.
For they have lived a life worth living,
Full of goodness, full of light.
So if in pain, then think of giving
And let them go to that good night.



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