By Robert Penn Warren
Here is the glade and here the golden rod
And here the stream that through the hollow ran.
Here are the trees that grew so close together
The sun but seldom found the open glade.
Here is the place where we are come together
To share the gift that we have brought along.
A gift of silence and of gratitude,
A gift of love and of unspoken trust,
A gift of peace that passes understanding.
These things we brought, and these things we shall leave
As tokens of our love and of our joy,
As witnesses of all the things we shared.
And so we part, and each one goes his way,
But not alone, for we shall carry with us
The memory of this place, and of this time,
And the knowledge that we are loved and not alone.
Let us now, O Lord,
Go from this place
And carry in our hearts
The memory of this light
And the knowledge of this love
That we may be a witness
To all the world.
Amen