A nice note from Stuart McLean about Mom
-----Original Message-----
From: stuart mclean
Sent: May-31-14 4:13 PM
To: Kerr
Subject: from mclean
I have been receiving all your notes and have been derelict in replying
i was in the maritimes in nova scotia when your mom died we were there
recording a show in annapolis royal i am sorry to have been so
unattentive
i wanted to express my condolences to you and to your family even when
it is time for someone to "get in the boat" even when you know the race
will soon end death always seems to blindside us there is always
unfinished business there is always something more you would like
to say there are always lingering regrets
and there is always sorrow
I remeber fondly an afternoon long ago when your mother and father were
driving us somewhere where, i have no idea it was your mother who
insisted we stop and take a detour and visit a strange geological
formation which i believe she called the devil's playground somewhere
in the west island that required a hike up a hill to an
incredible deposit of round stones
it was the first and maybe only time i spent extended time with
her and i remember thinking how i liked her spirit and her joy and her
willingness to take the slow road.
Please pass this note to Pierre and Madeleine and with it my best
wishes and love which i send to you too along with this poem which i
have always felt oddly comforting
Death is Nothing at All
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 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 always 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 in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
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
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918
Canon of St Paul's Cathedral