This is not all you have become
A shoebox casket of ash
In raw earth.
Donna who brightened the world with light and laughter
Who broke down walls of pretence
And rebuilt broken humble hearts
You are not this trace of human remains
This symbol of life reduced to its smallest fragment

You are now flesh of our flesh
Bone of our bone
Spirit of our spirit.

Great woman
You cannot rest in this dead earth -
You who looked for the deepest reality
Are deeper and more alive than any grave
Or memorial stone
More vibrant than the grass that grows
Over your last remains.

For all that we must place you somewhere
And commit you to this grave
We welcome your memory to become
Part of who we will be forever.
When our courage is weak
And our resolve tempts us to take the easy option
We will still look to you
And we will find you burning in our hearts
And your inspiration will be our inspiration
And we will dare to live life to the full.

When we lose strength to reach for God
And the goodness in life
We will remember you
Facing the ultimate challenge of death
But still giving to others
Walking hand in hand with your God
And being thankful, ever thankful
For goodness.
And we will find goodness and thankfulness because of you.

When we are tempted to settle for being
Lesser people than we could be
We will remember that you taught us
To welcome our greatness
To have no heed for second best
But to know that God intends us to be as Gods
In our beauty, truth, love and compassion.

But still, here we leave your remains
As a place of remembering - a touchstone
For our great friend, daughter, sister, wife, mother.
You have gone before us in so many ways
Go now and live forever with God
And live forever with us -
Unbounded by this
Short-lived body
We keep you alive
As we lay you to rest.
Alive with Christ
Your great inspiration
We honour you and Him
For the great gift of your life
This day and forever.

Andy T