This is not meant to be a dark post and no one has died causing a prompt. I was sitting editing my book and started to think on some of the burning questions of the day. One question which mankind has been asking ever since crawling out of the swamp, “is this all there is?” So here is the same question but adding in the subtle ritual that we have come to know so well. Hope you like it.
Thoughts When Someone Dies by John W. Howell ©2013
When people pass from the living to non,
To comfort ourselves we have ways.
We meet to talk about the one not there,
And convince ourselves of a life well lived.
It is not enough to simply believe,
That the time on Earth is all there is.
We talk of the soul as if it is real,
And feel it is with us as we talk.
We implore that the spirit will gently slip,
To eternal rest for well-earned peace.
We believe a higher purpose is in store,
By Subscribing to a more righteous plan.
We pause and consider destiny as,
More than just living on this Earth.
Is it? You ask with hopeful eyes,
No one knows how to answer you.
Fiction Favorites 
This was particularly poignant as my debut novel and the (hopefully) subsequent sequels deal with angels and the afterlife. I have to believe…or the story will fall flat on its face. 😀 On a personal level, I hope that there IS more..
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We all do. Thanks
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i guess the constant image that people frame of a realm after death is to comfort themselves, believing that there is something waiting for them on the other side.. the idea of them ceasing to exist is way too horrible for them..
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Yeah I agree. Really a subject to think about. Thanks for the comment.
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All we can have is faith, isn’t it? Very nicely written 🙂
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I think the faith of something rewarding is a positive thing. Thank you.
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Excellent poem. It really captures the awkwardness and confusion that comes with grief.
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Thank you. I appreciate your comment. You summarized very well what I was trying to say.
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Thanks, John, for such a lovely and thoughtful poem. You got me at: “We pause and consider destiny as, / More than just living on this Earth.” Sure, I wonder if I’ll leave some kind of “legacy.” If I will be remembered in kind ways (hopefully), but then I remind myself for that all I know, once I die, that’s it. I’ll have no spirit that will float above the earth, or anywhere else for that matter. So I need to see my present as my destiny, what I do here and now. Easier said than done, though.
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My opinion: If we follow passionately what we need to do in the life that we know, it seems to me: this is the essence of immortality. Leading a full life leads to diminished concern for what is next. Thank you so much for your introspective comment.
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I love your opinion.
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Beautiful. Very moving. I think it can touch everyone, as everyone asks this at one point in their life, I believe.
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It is not only because I believe in spiritual reincarnation, but also because I have held more people in my arms as they passed in a month than most people do in a year as a CCU/med.- surg/ oncology Nurse. In having done so i can say without any doubt that the spiritual presence is a very real thing. One can feel it as it actually passes from this realm to another. The body can linger for days, months, even years…but the spiritual presence is almost but not quite tangible. That’s a deep subject. Loved the poem. You make me think John Howell!
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And such great thoughts. We should turn to those who feel strongly that they have felt the spirit.. You have a gift and experience that must be a comfort to those passing to a new life. Thanks for sharing this it was very touching.
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I also worked Hospice for a couple of years and went from crisis to crisis, but I worked in marketing and admissions so I got people at the beginning of their crisis usually not the end of it. It was one of the most challenging positions that I ever held in Nursing, but also one of the most rewarding. Sometimes I would get called in on a case at the end, and it was a frantic race against the clock to get them admitted so the family could have the benefit of aftercare services. It is a hard thing to tell someone that their loved one is taking their last breaths. Often still in denial, they would ask me, “How do you know?” I would say, “Trust me.” And they trusted me and were always grateful.
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Wonderful.
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Moving and with sincere moments to ponder!
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Thank you so much.
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I was talking about this topic today with a friend. I think everyone wants to leave a mark on the world, whatever comes next.
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A mark on the world is a good thing to take our minds off the afterlife. Thanks for the visit and comment.
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