If I should ever leave you whom I love
To go along the Silent Way,
Grieve not,
Nor speak of me with tears,
But laugh and talk
Of me as if I were beside you there.
(I‘d come-I‘d come, could I but find a way!
But would not tears and grief be barriers?)
And when you hear a song or
See a bird I loved,
Please do not let the thought of me be sad…
For I am loving you just as I always have…
You were so good to me!
There are so many things I wanted still
To do—so many things to say to you…
Remember that I did not fear—
It was just leaving you that was so hard to face…
We cannot see Beyond…
But this I know:
I loved you so –
Twas heaven here with you!
Little Gidding (from Four Quartets)
This is an extract from a longer poem by T.S Elliot, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. It reflects on the optimism