I wrote this poem for my wife in an attempt to express my feelings for her in case I pass on before I had told her. It is about our mortality and how temporary our stay is in this world. It also expresses my own belief that we go back to nature and are “recycled” so to speak. This poem was also read aloud at my mother’s funeral. A parting gift to her.

The Parting

If I should leave before you wake

Though parting causes such painful heartbreak

Know that I have loved you with all my heart

Though now we seem so far apart

Our paths must part as goodbye we say

We must journey on alone and be on our way

But I am not gone while you still think of me

Here, I still live in your memory

Look for me on a clear winter’s night

In the twinkling stars that shine so bright

And dance with harmony, in the night skies

The same light that shines through your eyes

So alive and oh so clear

So distant, but yet so near

The windows to your soul I’ve heard them say

I still love you, though I am faraway

Listen to my voice on that soft gentle breeze

In the rustling leaves, whispering in the trees

And the song of the blackbird, as the dawn chorus begins

While the timid thrush, with all his heart sings

In a crimson sky as he greets the new day

And the lonely cry of the curlew faraway

Hear me speak and call your name

And that my love for you will always remain

See my face in that shimmering lake

You are not dreaming, you are wide awake

Hear my laughter in that gurgling stream

And know that it is not just a dream

All life must pass this we know

And back to nature’s nurturing arms we go

But we still live in Life’s great tapestry

All around you are echoes of me
Look to the trees on a wet and windy day

Feel my essence, as the branches sway

In that cloud floating by, casting no shadows

The glinting glass of the bedroom windows

The shining dew caught on spider’s web like lace

Look for me here and remember my face

Feel in your heart my love for you forever

Eternity may fade and die but my love for you will never.

C/ Denis Murphy 01 Nov 2015.