An angel at my shoulder heard
The whisper of goodbye
Offering eternity as life slipped silent by
So peacefilly it seemed in sleep
You yielded to the love
That reached across my shoulder
To lift you high above
But still you are beside me
And with certainty I know
The hands I can no longer hold
Will guide me as I go
For in that fleeeting moment
At the touch of Heaven’s embrace
As one angel brushed my shoulder
Another took it’s place.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
The most famous of the ‘metaphysical’ poets, John Donne wrote this poem in 1611, after leaving his wife to travel to the continent. The poem