Farewell Song for the Soul

When the last notes of Summer Symphony steal through the garden, I shall prepare for a journey.  I shall close the book of hours, and set my seal thereupon with unfaltering hand.  I shall take leave of those who loved me, those who have always loved me, their trembling words of farewell I shall cherish forever.  With my hand on the latch, smilingly, I shall look back at them, and give them my blessings.  How shattered the home will be after my going; none shall see me nor hear me depart save those having vision.

The land to which I travel is not distant.  Though I move to a new home we shall still be neighbours.  The hedge which divideth it shall be pierced by arrows of Love.  They shall hear my voice comforting them in the night of their sorrow.  My hand shall clasp them at the helm, when they steer over seas that are perilous. But I shall never forget them.  They are embalmed in the storehouse of memory; their gifts of kindness are preserved in the shrine of the spirit.

I shall need no gold for my journey, only the treasure of Love, the fruit of sacrifice.  Having not these I must depart empty handed.  No creed written on paper shall serve me as my passport, only the law of devotion, right- thinking, right-doing, engraved by the sculptors of life on the scroll of the heart.  Then when the going of the night striketh the Amen to the discourse of time, I shall fling wide open the door and go forth into the dawn.  Singing upon sandals winged with thought shall I travel the roadway.  I shall lift my eyes unto the hills crested with glory.  There at the end of the journey, someone lovelier than a rose, will be waiting for me.  My greeting shall be:- "Is it thou Love?"  In answer to these words only:- "Come, it is I".

Then in silence, after the seeking, the tilling, the sowing, after the watching, the sorrowing, the hoping, into the field of harvest shall we go, hand in hand.

 Copied from the Argus magazine of Kilmarnock Spiritualist Church

indicating only that this reading was given by Albert Best. (late 1970's)

 From 'Astral Projection' by Hugh G Gallaway  (pseudonym Oliver Fox)