# 25... Self Pity

I am totally in love with the works of D.H. Lawrence. I just remembered this poem. One of my favorites. It's short and sweet, and is also cited by Viggo Mortensen in G.I. Jane.

Self Pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

-- D.H. Lawrence

About the author

D.H. Lawrence
born September 11,
1885, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England
died March 2, 1930, Vence, France

in full David Herbert Lawrence English author of novels, shortstories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, and letters. His novels Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1920) made him one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century.

Reference:
Lawrence, D.H.. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com.proxygsu-wgc1.galileo.usg.edu/eb/article-9047416

#24... Death is Nothing.

I just wanted to share this poem with you.

It was read at my mum's funeral and I thought it was very moving and comforting.


Death is Nothing

“Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me
in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone;
wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the
little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household
word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort,
without the ghost of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was; there is
absolutely unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of my mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you at an interval,
somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well.”

-- Henry Scott Holland