Today we mourn the dead.
Unlike the one we lay to rest,
Our grief lives on beyond this test;
We hold the memories to our breast
Each future step we tread.
We grieve in different ways …
With tears or silence or regret;
With normal functions all upset;
With thoughts of what we should forget;
Not knowing what to say.
We who are left behind
Must grapple with mortality.
The fallen leave a legacy
That all will face eternity …
Nor can death be declined.
If we can understand
That Purpose guides experience,
And when it seems as little sense
That life is cut at great expense
There is a Higher Hand.
No death is met in vain,
For there are never accidents
In God’s all-perfect Providence …
He makes no selfish ordinance,
But rather timeless gain.
We say our last “adieu”,
Yet we who meet to pay respect
Would face a certain grim prospect
That by the Sovereign Architect
Next meet for me or you.
