Bright ribbons of death
wind you round.
Here,
they seem to be black:

the colours of loss
the colours of mourning,

the colours of rich earth exposed,
brought up
from centuries of sleep
into shining day
at the grave’s long side.

Bright Ribbons of death
wind you round,
here they seem to be dark
but the inner eye
shows them Golden,
Shimmering, transformed:

not the colours of departing,
the colours of returning,
not the colours of exile,
the colours of Homecoming.

We weep for our loss certainly,
but we do not weep
at the wind’s movement,
we do not grieve
at the water’s flow.

Neither can stay,
all is returning
One river only running,

Before you were born
you lived in the life eternal,
until time called you out
into this world of bright beginnings and dark endings.

You woke into birth,
forgot the ways of your coming
lived a life and loved
until death lifted that veil,
and time again whispered its secret
to you,
calling you home
calling you back to your origin.

One river only is running
one river never broken,
one life never ended:

Time and eternity
weaving together
One thread to bring you out
one thread to take you back

One voice only heard
calling to guide you home

‘I am your Life eternal from which you came
I am your Life eternal to which you now return’

One voice calling,
out and back
through Love’s Great Circle
in which you live
in which you never die.

Although our eyes are sealed
by time’s fine veil and vision
does not reach to where your soul
now rests in peace

we know that you are home
from your long travelling,

One Love alone brought you,
One Love alone returned you,
One Love alone holds you now
through all your timeless days

in that life eternal
from which you came
in that life eternal where now you live
In that life eternal
to which we all will come.