The Comfort and Sweetness of Peace
After the clouds, the sunshine,
after the winter, the spring,
after the shower, the rainbow,
for life is a changeable thing.
After the night, the morning,
bidding all darkness cease,
after life's cares and sorrows,
the comfort and sweetness of peace.
Helen Steiner Rice

'Say not in grief 'he is no more' but live in thankfulness that he was'
Hebrew proverb
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Perhaps they are not
stars in the sky,
but rather openings
where our loved ones
shine down
to let us know they
are happy.
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If tears could build a stairway,
and memories a lane, I’d walk
right up to heaven and bring you
home again.
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A gift for such a little while,
your loss just seems so wrong,
you should not have left before us,
it’s with loved ones you belong.
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Gone yet not forgotten,
although we are apart,
your spirit lives within me,
forever in my heart.

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I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new
I thought about you yesterday and days before that too,
I think of you in silence I often speak your name
All I have are memories and your picture in a frame
Your memory is my keepsake with which I’ll never part
God has you in His keeping I have you in my heart.

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No farewell words were spoken,
no time to say goodbye, you were
gone before we knew it, and only
God knows why.
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The memory of a good person
is a blessing.
Proverb 10:7
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When someone you love becomes a memory,
the memory becomes a treasure.
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If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.
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Grief is the price we pay for love.
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May you find comfort in the arm of an angel.
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Real love stories never have endings.
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Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.
Mary Frye
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When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced
Live your life in a manner that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice
Native American Proverb
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Tears water our growth
William Shakespeare
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"You see things and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that
never were and I say, 'Why not?'"
Edward Kennedy speaking of Bobby Kennedy in Eulogy quoted from George Bernard Shaw from the play "Back to Methuselah."
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The journey is the reward
Tao Saying
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Serenity Prayer
God grant me the Serenity to
Accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things
I can, and the Wisdom to know
the difference.
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The best and most beautiful
Things in the world cannot
Be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller
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We’ve shared our lives these many years. You’ve held
My hand; you’ve held my heart. So many blessings, so
few tears – Yet for a moment, we must part. The
memories you’ve given me are times I’ve shared with
my best friend I’ll hold them, Love. Right here they’ll
be until we share our lives again.
T.C. Ring
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Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh
And talk of me as if I were beside you. I loved
You so—‘twas heaven here with you.
Isla Paschal Richardson
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Irish Prayer
Until we meet again, may God
Hold you in the palm of his hand.
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Butterfly
As you danced in the light with joy,
love lifted you. As you brushed against
this world so gently, you lifted us.
T.C. Ring
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Footprints in the Sand
Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you,
we would walk side by side through life.
But when I needed you most, I say only one set
of footprints in the sand. The Lord replied, “I love you
and I would never leave you. During your times of trial
and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

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A Significant Moment Shared
We have shared
A significant moment
With tears awash
Amidst the quiet Smiles
Your handclasp
There surging

We acknowledge
The love and the Life
With profound Expression
As we embrace
And remember
The exhilarating
Poignant living
Walking upon time
Now
With a silent kiss
Marie Alaimo

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We shall find peace. We shall hear angels,
we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.”
Chekov

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“Make yourself familiar with the angels,
and behold them
frequently in spirit; for without being seen,
they are present with you.”
Saint Francis de Sales
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“To love for the sake of being loved is human,
but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.”
Alphonse de Lamartine
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“The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to be beyond
our sight, but they are always looking down upon us.”
Jean Paul Richter
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“When hearts listen, angels sing.”
Unknown
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“Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Celebration of Life
The celebration of life,
shared in the beginning, and again, in the end.
Yet we forget to celebrate it, in every moment we live.
Time, days, years, go on, but are we alive?
Alive and do not know it, sleeping in the world
and dead to the life we are to live.
To celebrate all life,
the sparrow who sang in the morning,
and died in the night,
why do we not celebrate its life?
To know thyself is to know you are alive -
to give, to love, to seek truth, beauty, and suffer pain.
In life as it is meant to be, pain is forgotten, and
strength is all that's left to be gained
in the moment by moment celebration of life.
By Deborah Peabody

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Alone Again
Some days the road once traveled is a saddened trail,
Some days it's roses and it feels so good just to be alive.

Some days we feel like no one is out there who cares,
And you are the only one left to pick up the broken pieces
life has left you to deal with.

Love can be such a wondrous thing and it can also
hurt like a thorn; pricking every feeling and emotion
left inside you.

Sometimes love just stinks and other times
it makes one feel warm and tingly inside.

When the love is gone...
The hurt begins for one or both...
Someone always gets hurt in the end.

Two hearts beating as one...
Two hearts now broken apart.

As the story goes,
I found myself falling in love...
And now I find myself falling apart.

Love can be grand...
It can also tear you apart until you
feel like you can't go on.

You left when I needed you the most...
But I am strong and I will mend and
fall in love all over again.
By Bonnie Carnahan

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To My Best Friend
I kept my promise, to love, honor, and share. I kept my promise that to you that I would always there Until death do we part, that is what they say. Oh my love why did you leave me that day? I wasn't ready for you to say goodbye, as I look into the heavens with tears in my eyes, I wasn't ready for you to die. My best friend why did you leave and not say goodbye? With so many questions and no answers as to why. I would have gone with you, however God knows best and took you home to give you rest. I was not ready, no not just yet, With only one regret that I didn't tell you one last time I love you, and forever you will be mine. My best friend this you must know, and never forget. I will see you again when God calls my name and say's it is time to go home and be with your best friend once again.
By Diana Johnson

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I am peaceful.
I have decided to begin with a new slate, new beginning.
Letting go and believing.
I am going to free fall into the arms of love and believe that the same spirit who has inspired me will make all my dreams come true.
Courage is fear who has said her prayers.
I am reminded, the God who gave me all my dreams is the same God that will make them happen.HE WONT FORGET ME OR FORSAKE ME.
And I think it is time to pay attention to what is to be, not necessarily what I thought was going to happen.
I am trading my discouragement and disappointment for faith and hope wrapped in a beautiful package filled with gratitude and peace.
Love will always rear up in my dreams defense,your family and friends are a great example of this love.
Thank God every day for all you have.

Then thank Him for making your dreams come true.
By Melanie Jones

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Not all horses were born equal.
Some were born to win.
By Mark Twain

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Then the child opened its eyes, and looked up into the angel's beautiful face, which beamed with happiness, and at the same moment they were in heaven, where joy and bliss reigned. The child received wings like the other angel, and they flew about together, hand in hand.
By Hans Christian Andersen

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Gates of Prayer - Reform Judaism Prayer Book
As long as we live, they too will live;
For they are now a part of us:
As we remember them!

At the rising sun and at its going down we remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter we remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring we remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer we remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn we remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends we remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us. As we remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart we remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make we remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share we remember them.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs we remember them.
For as long as we live, they too will live,
For they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

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But Not Forgotten
I think no matter where you stray,
That I shall go with you a way.
Though you may wander sweeter lands,
You will not forget my hands,
Nor yet the way I held my head
Nor the tremulous things I said.
You will still see me, small and white
And smiling, in the secret night,
And feel my arms about you when
The day comes fluttering back again.
I think, no matter where you be,
You'll hold me in your memory
And keep my image there without me,
By telling later loves about me.
Dorothy Parker
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He is Gone
You can shed tears that he is gone,
Or you can smile because he lived,
You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared,
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on,
You can cry and close your mind be empty and turn your
back,
Or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes,
love and go on.
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If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don't you ever cry.
The love that's deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You'll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.
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If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Into his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson
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Speak Low
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late, darling,we're late,
The curtain descends, everything ends,
too soon, too soon....
Ogden Nash with Kurt Weill from "One Touch of Venus"
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Don't be sad-
I am in a snowflake,
I am in the rays of sun,
I am in the sparkling of stars
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Death leaves a heartache
no one can heal;
Love leaves a memory no
one can steal
Irish Tombstone
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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we
take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
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The Next Place by Warren Hanson

The next place that I go
will be as peaceful and familiar
as a sleepy summer Sunday
and a sweet, untroubled mind.

Click here to see the complete verse
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I Wish You Enough

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye.
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Death is Nothing

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
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes
We enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me,
Let my name be ever the household word that
It always was.

Let it be spoken without effort,
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am
Out of sight? I am but waiting for you
For an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner .
All is well.
Canon Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
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I turn my head and look towards death now.
Feeling my way through the tunnel with the space of
emptiness and quiet.
The shimmering silence that awaits me.
This is my direction now; inward to the green pastures...
The cares of the world concern me no longer.
I have completed this life. My work is done, my
children grown.
My husband is well on his hero's journey.
I have loved much and well...
Those I leave behind, I love.
I hope I will remain in their hearts as they will
in mine...
Thank you for taking such good care of me...
And all of you who have been my friends, thank you
for teaching me about love.
Karen Vervaet from "Karen's Journal, 3 April 1993
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To Those Whom I Love and Those Who Love Me

When I am gone, release me, let me go
I have so many things to see and do
You must not tie yourself to me with tears
Be happy that I have had so many years

I gave you my love, you can only guess
How much you gave me in happiness
I think you for the love each have shown
But now it is time I traveled on alone

So grieve a while for me, if grieve you must
Then let your grief be comforted by trust
It is only for a while that we must part
So bless the memoriss in your heart

I will not be far away, for life goes on
So if you need me, call and I will come
Though you can not see or touch me, I will be near
And if you listen with your heart, you will hear
All of my love around you soft and clear

Then, when you must come this way alone
I will greet you with a smile and a
"Welcome Home"
Mary Alice Ramish
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Love Lives On
Those we love remain with us
for love itself lives on,
and cherished memories never fade
because a loved one's gone.
Those we love can never be
more than a thought apart,
far as long as there is memory,
they'll live on in the heart.
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To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of the intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know that one life has breathed easier
because you lived here.
This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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