Please forgive me if others have alluded to these LINES in previous postings. I was a late starter on this prolonged metaphorical , nautical journey...but I hope this provides some comfort or food for thought. THE SAILING SHIP What is death ? I am standing on the sea shore , A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her . Til at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says : "She is gone ." Gone ! Where ? Gone from my sight - that is all . She is just as large in the masts , hull and spars as she was when I saw her And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination. The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me , not in her . And just at the moment when someone at my side says , "She is gone " There are others who are watching her coming and other voices take up a glad shout : " There she comes " - and that is dying . An horizon and just the limit of our sight . Lift us up , Oh Lord , that we may see further . BISHOP CHARLAES HENRY BRENT ( 1862 - 1926 ) David
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