What is dying?

Last Thursday I received the sad news that one of my aunts had passed away following a short battle with aggresive lung cancer at the age of only fifty eight.

I found this fitting poem which was written by Bishop Charles Henry Brent -

A ship sails and I stand watching till 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 now as when I last saw her. Her diminished size and total loss from my 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 over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout There she comes!

That is what dying is. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further

During the last few weeks of her life, my aunt was assisted by nurses from our local hospice, the Ellenor Lions Hospice and on behalf of the family I would like to extend our thanks for their help at a difficult time.

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