Dear Soph, our daughter, sister, niece,
Grand-daughter, cousin, friend,
We’re here to say good-bye to you
But it is not an end.
We share so many memories
You left us all too soon,
If life were but a day in length
It wasn’t even noon.
A butterfly whose wings were singed
By death’s dark fingertips,
Your family all loved you so
And never will forget
Their sleeping beauty, smile on lips,
So young and yet so wise,
Who bore the pain and ne’er complained,
An angel in disguise.
And when our tears have all dried up
Our hearts will ever bleed
And rage at the injustice
Of youth and beauty gone.
The silence and the emptiness,
The gaping hole you leave,
You were indeed an angel
And angels don’t stay long.
We hope that you will wait for us
As others wait for you,
But you remain within our hearts...
A smile, a prayer, a song.

Many thanks to my Irish friend Sue, a brilliant flautist and musician, who sent me a recording of herself playing the Largo from Vivaldi's concerto in C transposed to G for the recorder when she learned of Sophie's death. I initially wanted to read the poem to the Adagio (second movement) of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto in C minor, a piece I often listened to when I first knew that Sophie was so unwell, but Sue's recording seemed to fit the poem much better.

We will always remember many happy moments spent with Pete, Carmel, Ted and Sophie, especially visits to Fontainebleau castle, roundabout rides in Fontainebleau and Easter egg hunts in our garden, in particular the memorable one when the paper bag we'd given Sophie to collect her eggs in broke at the bottom because she was so small it dragged in the damp grass and she scattered as many eggs as she found... The hunt could have gone on for a very long time ;)