I watched a ceremony of commemoration for the 67 Britons who were killed in 9/11 in London’s Grosvenor Square today. Dame Judi Dench read a poem, Remember, by Christina Rossetti. Besides being moved by the ceremony, the poem triggered memories of my maternal grandparents.
My grandfather loved poetry and used to read to me when I was little. I hold him responsible for my own love of poetry. My grandmother loved to hear me sing even though singing in public – even for the family – was embarrassing for me. And what are songs if not poems set to music?
I miss them both terribly at times, because I was able to talk to them more easily than talking to my parents sometimes, and even now I am an adult I could sometimes really benefit from their advice and their unconditional love.
My grandparents were buried together in the same plot and the family discussed long and hard what should be on their headstone. The best words that described how I felt then – and now – are contained within Christina Rossetti’s poem.
Christina Rossetti
Remember
REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
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