Never is death made more real to us than when a parent, a spouse, a child, or a very dear friend dies. Then we sense the icy nearness of death. Particularly intense and traumatic are the emotional effects and feelings during the first few days after the death of a loved one as a kind of shock sets in and the enormity and magnitude of our loss overwhelms us.

We realize how very real and near death is. It seems to hover in the very air all around us, and we sense how fragile life is, and how vulnerable we are, and that our next breath could be our last. It is very difficult to go on after the death of a loved one. We know that we will never see them again in this life. All we have left of them are our memories.

There is some consolation that their pain and suffering is over, and that they are in a better place. But it is difficult for us to see beyond the pain of our loss at the time. A dark depression sets in such as we have never experienced before. We think that we will never smile again, except perhaps on the outside, but never smile inside again.

We feel numb and just try to make it through the day. The things we used to enjoy we enjoy no longer. Those things which brightened our day and made us happy before no longer do so. It is like we have entered a different world. Everything seems different and looks different. People seem different. Life seems different. We never view the world quite the same again after the death of a loved one. The world that existed before our loved one died no longer exists, and will never exist again.

At friendship I grasp,
With my soul, with my heart,
Just for a friend I ask,
Just some friendship to impart.

Life can be so sad
If no friends are there near.
If no friendship is had
Then is there little joy here.

I ask for one to understand,
My fears to relieve,
Just to give me their hand,
And in me to believe,

To show me they care
Whether I live or die,
My burdens to help bear,
And wipe the tears from my eye,

To walk by my side
In fellowship divine,
How pleasant to abide,
If sweet friendship could be mine.

If I should die before you my love, know that I will always be with you in your heart. Those who touch our lives with their love are always with us even after death for they are a part of us forever. You have touched my heart with your love, and I will always be with you and you will always be with me.

I will be with you in the springtime when all the earth comes to life again, and when love is in the air. When the sweetness and fragrance of the new life is around on every hand, I will be with you.

I will be with you in the summertime when the sun shines brightly down. When the trees are all covered with green, and everything is warm and happy, I will be with you.

I will be with you in autumn when all the leaves begin to fall. When all the hills are covered with color, and the frost first bites the ground, I will be with you.

I will be with you in the wintertime when all is covered with snow. When the cold winds blow, and the nights are long and cold, I will be with you.

My love I will be with you every season of the year, and help you to love each one, and your life will go on, because I will be with you.

I will be with you listening to the falling rain, and each drop shall tell of my love for you. I will be with you listening to the wind, and the wind shall touch you with my love. I will be with you in the night when the darkness is all around, and I will comfort you.

I will be with you under the stars, and when you raise your eyes to look up at the stars, you will see my love shining there. I will be with you my love wherever you may go, for you are my love, and all of time cannot change that.

The lights in our mind do glow
Over the friends that we know.
The darkness does dwell
Where no friends have cast their spell.

See the beacon shining bright,
It is a light in the night,
While the dark around
Is where no friends have been found.

All the stars up in the sky
Seem like friends unto the eye,
While all of dark space
Seems like an unfriendly place.

Ride A Chariot Of fire

I want to ride a chariot of fire,
Go up high and catch a star,
Want to go down by the sea,
And let the waters set me free.

I want to hold on to the wind,
And to have the light breeze for a friend,
To be a child in the night
Filled with yearning, filled with light.

I want to touch the soul of a flower,
To tap the mystery of the hour,
To ponder grass and tree,
Garner the nectar of the bee.

I want all the world to blend
Into some pattern before I end,
Want to find what is wrong or right
Before I pass from sight.

Light And Darkness

Sometimes the world is like a throbbing pulse and you can't get enough of it. It floods you with sunshine, and sets your heart right with a thousand wonderful sights and delicious odors, and reminds you of pleasant times. There are times you feel songs within, rivers of delight, and you hum them for they are too sweet for words, but soon you are still, lost in the joy of being alive.

Then the thunder of woe and the clouds of despair shroud the scene with unimaginable darkness, and it seems there never was sunshine, nor joy, nor peace, and that there never will be again. But by degrees the warmth seeps back, and the light floods the darkness revealing the joys of life that were never really gone, only obscured.

From the pit of my despair I beheld them laughing, scorning, mocking me, all my fears and dreads, but I didn't turn my head, not this time, I looked steadfastly at them and slowly they all melted away.

In some forgotten valley of my mind I seem to remember happiness, and the sweet memories drift through the thick cloud of years to impart a wistful sigh.