Music: Howard Goodall, Words: Mary Elizabeth Frye

Selected by Peter Rainsford

I am a great fan of the composer Howard Goodall. He is perhaps best known as a composer of music for television and film such as: Mr Bean, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Q.I. and The Vicar of Dibley.

He is particularly prolific in the field of choral music. His setting of the poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye is particularly poignant in current times.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.