1 A beautiful sunny day today gave us a new shadow, this time of our little replica of a funny little wren from a stained glass window in York Minster. It dates from the 15th Century and can be found in the Zouche Chapel.
Shadow of the little wren
Replica stained glass
2 Yesterday’s WordPress writing prompt invited the writing of one’s own eulogy. That reminded me of something I used to work on with my 13 year old pupils as the last chapter of their autobiography. I invited them to write a pastiche of the following poem, ‘Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep’ changing the items to reflect their own personality. There were so many amazing and moving poems from them. My pastiche follows the original. You may like to write your own and put it as a comment. I’d really love to read yours.
‘Do Not Stand’ by Mary Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die
.‘Do not Stand’ by MBT
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am primroses in the sun,
I am the waves that run and run,
I am seagulls on the wing,
I am in choruses that sing.
When you awaken in the dead of night
I am in stars that bring you light
Of peace and love and life and hope.
I am the bubbles in your soap.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
3 In my role as a Humanist celebrant, I met with a lovely couple today and we began to plan their Wedding Ceremony for the end of May. It’s such a delightful, happy job to have!
petit4chocolatier
January 28, 2013 at 12:40 am
Beautiful eulogy.
mybeautfulthings
January 28, 2013 at 10:00 am
Thank you. Are you going to have a try? 🙂
valeriedavies
January 26, 2013 at 10:42 pm
I would love to have had you as my English teacher… we never even thought about our lives when I was at school – just wrote essays on Shakespeare and Austen. I also wonder if I would have dared to write about my childhood when I was a child… too raw, …too much buried..
Wonder how you coped with children who suddenly faced the truth….
Kathleen Richardson
January 26, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Love the shadow picture. I’ll have to look for something like that! The first couple of lines of the poem reminded me of a job interview I went on. The interviewer’s last question: “If you died and we were to look at your gravestone, what would it say?” I didn’t think, just replied…”She’s not here; no time to die; too much to do.” Not quite as poetic as Mary Frye.
Choc Chip Uru
January 26, 2013 at 8:10 pm
That is such a lovely eulogy my friend 😀
Cheers
CCU
mixedupmeme
January 26, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Somebody is getting desperate for ideas if they have to go around taking pictures of shadows!!!!!!!!!! lol
I remember your giving me the site for the ceremony. I know it will be beautiful. 🙂
mybeautfulthings
January 26, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Yes it will – and it will be totally unique 🙂
tartanpants
January 26, 2013 at 6:43 pm
What? What’s going on with WP! I just commented as Yvonne, I always comment as tartanpants, how did that happen? Confused!
mixedupmeme
January 26, 2013 at 6:55 pm
I see you as tartanpants.
WP is always doing crazy things to me……..like mastyping wordds and leeving off punutaions murks
mybeautfulthings
January 26, 2013 at 7:31 pm
Ha ha! Love it 🙂
mybeautfulthings
January 26, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Yes, and I had to ‘approve’ your comment. Also, all my info on the side has disappeared for me. Has it for you too? 🙂
tartanpants
January 27, 2013 at 7:08 am
Yes! Are there gremlins around this weekend? Have you been rearranging anything via the dashboard? Seriously, I have some doubts about WP this week, yesterday I found that I had missed a series of 3 lovely posts on a blog I follow, they didn’t show on the WP reader but I could see them when I went to the blog. Very annoying 🙁 I am beginning to wonder if I should use another reader and transfer all the blogs to that!
mybeautfulthings
January 27, 2013 at 8:10 am
Hello! No I haven’t been doing anything with the dashboard -just lost all the right hand side info. I take it you can,t see it either. I’ll have to go to WordPress support but last time I did that I had no reply 🙁
tartanpants
January 27, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I just checked again and there’s still nothing showing, that’s not very good x I’m not too impressed with WP this week, hope you get it sorted soon.
mybeautfulthings
January 27, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Thank you for checking for me. I’ve asked for help from WP but heard nothing yet. Perhaps I won’t until after the weekend!
5 posts have disappeared too! 🙁
tartanpants
January 27, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Oh no, that’s terrible, they better find them for you – your blog is too lovely to be messed up!
Yvonne
January 26, 2013 at 6:41 pm
I love your wren, he is very cute indeed! Oh my eulogy, that one is going to take some thinking ………. 😉
mybeautfulthings
January 26, 2013 at 7:29 pm
Please do it! It will be very interesting to discover what people write about – an insight into the soul! 🙂