Goodbye

This poem was discovered mysteriously in my Mom's house, a few days after my Dad died, and kept on the bulletin board until read by a good friend of the family at my Mom's funeral on October 24, 2008.

To Those I Love
by Isla Paschal Richardson

If I should ever leave you whom I
love
To go along the silent way, grieve
not,
Nor speak of me with tears, but
laugh and talk
Of me as if I were beside you, for
Who knows but what I shall be
often-times?
I’d come, I’d come, could I but find
a way!
But would not tears and grief be
barriers?
And when you hear a song I used
to sing,
Or see a bird I loved – let not the
thought
Of me be sad, for I am loving you
Just as I always have…you
were so good
To me….so many things I wanted
Still
To do….so many, many things to
say to you…
Remember that I did not fear…
it was
Just leaving you I could not bear
to face
We cannot see beyond…but this
I know;
I loved you so. “Twas heaven here
with you.”