It has been a very hard day. I (along with probably about 200 other people) went to Steve’s funeral today. If I touch as many people’s lives in the way he did, I would consider my existence on this planet to have been worthwhile.
One of the saddest things was to see his daughters each carrying a lighted candle as they followed his coffin out of the church.
Another memorable and moving part of the service was Steve’s sister Vanessa’s reading of a poem by Joyce Grenfell called “If I Should Go Before The Rest Of You”:-
If I should go before the rest of you,
Break not a flower, nor inscribe a stone,
Nor when I'm gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known;
Weep if you must,
Parting is hell
But life goes on,
So sing as well
The Order of Service issued at the church just mentioned the title of that poem so, while I was searching for the words to reproduce here, I found the following, which also breaks me up:-
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
I'm crying again.
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