- Do
not stand by my grave and weep,
- I
am not there, I do not sleep,
- I
am a thousand winds that blow,
- I
am the diamond glints on snow,
- I
am the sunlight on ripened grain,
- I
am the gentle autumn rain.
-
- When
you awaken in the morning hush,
- I
am the swift uplifting rush
- of
quiet birds in circled flight.
- I
am the stars that shine in the night,
- Do
not stand at my grave and cry,
- I
am not there, I did not die.
"The
day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet, neatly tucked under
four corners of a mattress in a hospital busily occupied with the living and
the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has
ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has
stopped.
When
that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the
use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be
called the bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead
fuller lives.
Give
my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face, or love in
the eyes of a woman. Give my kidney's to one who depends on a machine to
exist from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and
nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore
every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow
so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf
girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn
what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers
grow.
If
you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice
against my fellow man.
Give
my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God.
If,
by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind word or deed to someone
who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever."
-Robert
N. Test
