If death were the end,
the silent swallower of love,
then love would not be as it is,
namely, the great transformer.
Love would not reappear,
or heal our hurts as it does,
over and over.
Love would not be the one supreme force
which we unceasingly thirst and hunger after
and which alone safely directs our course.
Love would not rise in us
With its strong wings of joy
to carry our burdens, and make light our journey.
No, if death were the end
we would not know love.
But, since death is the beginning of a new love
then, all we have to learn and embody
is how love plays its game of hide and seek,
and keep hope in love, that it will always return.
c by Marion S. Duff 1985