Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped into the next room

I am I, and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way

Which you always used

Put no difference in your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we enjoyed together

Pray, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word

That always was.

Let it be spoken without effort

Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all

That it ever meant

It is the same unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,

For an interval

Somewhere very near,

Just around the corner.