My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather S. Hall Young was an Alaskan Missionary during the gold rush. He was a close friend of John Muir and traveled with him. The poem below was one that Young had started before his sudden death and never finished.
Let me die, working
Still tackling plans unfinished, tasks undone!
Clean to its end, swift may my race be run.
No laggard steps, no faltering, no shirking;
Let me die, working!
Let me die, thinking.
Let me fare forth still with an open mind,
Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to find,
my soul undimmed, alert, no question blinking;
Let me die thinking.
Let me die, laughing.
No sighing o'er past sins; they are forgiven.
spilled on this earth are all the joys of Heaven.
The wine of life, the cup of mirth still quaffing;
Let me die, Laughing!
Let me die, giving.
Let me die, aspiring.
I've recently rediscovered this poem. Part of me wants to know how he would have finished it. And the other part of me likes that it is unfinished. He was working on this very poem when he died. Its a beautifully sad reminder of the power of death and the joy we have in what we have been given. Spilled on the earth are all the joys of heaven.
3 comments:
Hi, There
My Grandmother died back in 2006, and her local priest chose
this very poem for me and my brother to read at an unorthodox
scattering of her ashes in a wood.
I’m in the progress of sorting out loads of paper work etc.
and decided to find out more the poem and who wrote it originally.
The poem had a slightlty different order; ‘Let me die working’
followed by ‘Let me die thinking’ then the final verse
‘Let me die giving’
I thought I’d share the version of the final verse with you:
Let me die giving,
The substance of life, for life’s enriching;
Time, things and self on heaven converging,
No selfish though, love redeeming, living;
Let me die giving
Thanks for posting that verse! I copied how the poem was published in my Great Grandfather's books, but I've seen several other versions.
I found this poem in an obituary some time ago, and clipped it thinking I might want to use it. I am going to read it at my brother’s memorial service this weekend.
Nice to know where it came from--thank you for posting.
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