© Liga. Used by permission
Poems for Ruth’s Memorial service
By ending Spooks after Series 10 and killing off the character of Ruth Evershed in the last ever episode of Spooks, Kudos denied Ruth the chance of ever having a proper Memorial service. That shouldn’t stop us fans from giving her a proper send-off. LadyJ from the Spooks Information Central Forum has very kindly suggested the following poems which could have been read at Ruth’s Memorial service.
She is Gone
You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she’s gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back
or you can do what she’d want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
Anon
Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can go no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Christina Rossetti
Memorials
Death sets a thing significant
The eye had hurried by,
Except a perished creature
Entreat us tenderly
To ponder little workmanships
In crayon or in wool,
With “This was last her fingers did,
“
Industrious until
The thimble weighed too heavy,
The stitches stopped themselves,
And then’t was put among the dust
Upon the closet shelves.
A book I have, a friend gave,
Whose pencil, here and there,
Had notched the place that pleased him,
At rest his fingers are.
Now, when I read, I read not,
For interrupting tears
Obliterate the etchings
Too costly for repairs.
Emily Dickinson
If Harry read one, these are unconventional but heartfelt choices:
Haworth
I’m here now where you were.
The summer grass under my palms is your hair.
Your taste is the living air.
I lie on my back. Two juggling butterflies are your smile.
The heathery breath of the moor’s simply your smell.
Your name sounds on the coded voice of the bell.
I’ll go nowhere you’ve not.
The bleached dip in a creature’s bone’s your throat.
That high lark, whatever it was you thought.
And this ridged stone your hand in mine,
and the curve of the turning earth your spine,
and the swooning bees besotted with flowers your time.
I get up and walk. The dozing hillside is your dreaming head.
The cobblestones are every word you said.
The grave I kneel beside, only your bed.
Carol Ann Duffy
If I Could Tell You
Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
There are no fortunes to be told, although
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you, I would let you know.
The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Suppose the lions all get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.
W.H Auden
Email us if you have suggestions for other poems, or fill in this Form and share your thoughts with other fans.
Now go to page 4 for a selection of songs to commemorate Ruth.