BEYOND DEATH

I've always loved the poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox that I first learned at my grandmother's knee - long before I questioned what lay beyond death.  Grandma was an actress who could invariably be relied upon to dramatize life as well as theatrical lines and poetry.  Listening to her used to enthrall me.

Here's a poem entitled BEYOND:

'It seemeth such a little way to me
Across to that strange country - the Beyond;
And yet, not strange, for it has grown to be 
The home of those of whom I am so fond.
They make it seem familiar and most dear,
As journeying friends bring distant regions near.

So close it lies, that when my sight is clear
I think I almost see the gleaming strand.
I know I feel those who have gone from here
Come near enough sometimes, to touch my hand.
I often think, but for our veiled eyes,
We should find heaven right round about us lies.

I cannot make it seem a day to dread,
When from this dear earth I shall journey out
To that still dearer country of the dead,
And join the lost ones, so long dreamed about.
I love this world, yet shall I love to go
And meet the friends who wait for me, I know.

I never stand above a bier and see
The seal of death set on some well-loved face
But that I think, "One more to welcome me,
When I shall cross the intervening space 
Between this land and that one 'over there';
One more to make the strange Beyond seem fair."'

I hope that Ella, now long dead herself, is happy for me to quote her here.  I believe she is.  Why wouldn't she be, to see her words living on from beyond death?  As for Grandma - I'll soon be sharing some stories about her, not least one about a visit she paid me unexpectedly years after she died!