Where have you gone to my darling I miss you oh so much If only I could see you And reach out for your touch We built our home together Our family was complete You were my rock and purpose In our lives which seemed so neat The time we had together Was shortened far too soon So many things still left to do How I wish we’d had the room. My love for you will carry on And time will not erase You’ll be the only one I’ll love Until my dying day(s) Love you for ever. Alan ❤️

What is dying ? I am standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean . She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other Then someone at my side says: ‘There! She’a gone’ Gone where? Gone from my sight that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her; and just at the moment when someone at my side says: ‘There! She’s gone,’ There are others watching her coming, and voices ready to take up the glad shout ‘There she comes!’ And that is dying.

You can shed tears that she is gone, Or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back, Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see her, Or you can be full of the love that you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow, and live yesterday, Or you can be happy for tomorrow, because of yesterday. You can remember her, and only that she is gone, Or you can cherish her memory, and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, Or you can do what she would want: Smile, open your eyes, love, and go on . Val and Stuart (written by David Harkins - Silloth, Cumbria)