Mourning, Forbidding A Valediction Poem by Greg Davidson

He still remains.
Do not say that he is gone.
His memory lives within your mind
As long as thought remains,
His spirit lives within your heart
As long as life sustains.

Mourn, but do not mourn for long.
Mourn for the future times not shared.
These things are not true, not real,
But only dreams of what might have been,
So do not mourn for long.

Mourn, but remember too,
The love he had for all of you,
The joys you shared, his smile,
His wisdom and compassion.
For these things are both real and true.

He is not gone,
Within your hearts,
He still remains.

And this is his bequest,
That when in future times you meet,
That you will share the part that stays,
And it will grow the stronger in you
And by this, his love
Will each be blessed.

Keep this part of him alive,
This is the strength of family,
Of which he often spoke.
Keep this as a valued gift.
Do not this love deprive.

This love, to you his legacy,
Guard it well within your hearts.
Make it a tribute to honour him,
An inheritance for your children.
……………………………….
Mourn,
But do not mourn him long,
For he is not truly gone.