Saying Goodbye to an Author and FRIEND. I'll Miss You, Sharon Donovan.

This post is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend and fellow writer, Sharon Donovan. Always a kind voice, Sharon touched all whom she met. I think we’d only officially emailed twice before she sent ‘hugs and love’ or some such touching sentiment after her emails. She was that sort of woman. Warm and loving and totally amazing.

I didn’t have to search long to find the prayer I wanted to post on her behalf. It is utterly perfect. I will miss you so very much, Sharon. May you now soar over the distant Irish hills…

An Irish Funeral Prayer

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

Everything remains as it was.

The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.

Put no sorrow in your tone.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that 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

Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.

There is 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. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.

- Source: derived from a sermon written by Henry Scott Holland and delivered in St. Paul's (London) on 15 May 1910, at which time the body of King Edward VII was lying in state at Westminster. Although not originally derived from Irish writings, versions of this sermon have been used at many Irish and Catholic funerals over the years.