2nd November Feast of All Souls

A Prayer 

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

 Next, one of my favourite poems:

Billy Collins, “The Dead”

The dead are always looking down on us, they say,
while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich,
they are looking down through the glass-bottom boats of heaven
as they row themselves slowly through eternity.
They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth,
and when we lie down in a field or on a couch,
drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon,
they think we are looking back at them,
which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

And finally two sublime pieces of  music :

The first is the Agnus Dei by  Karl Jenkins from The Armed Man ; A Mass of Peace 

and the second by Barber ; Adagio for Strings