Rossiter W. Raymond - Author

Author

Raymond was the author of a large number of poems, stories, newspaper articles, biographies, memorials, opinions, fiction and non-fiction books. Unfortunately, most of his original work was destroyed by a fire late in his life; however, this comprehensive list shows the enormous breadth of his writing (scroll to bottom).

Ironically, despite the large body of work he produced, the opinions he expressed, and the stories he told, he is best known, at least on the internet, for the latter half of a poem titled 'Death is Only an Horizon' that qualifies as one of his shortest works:

Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

The entire poem is: O God, who holdest all souls in life; and callest them unto thee as seemeth best: we give them back, dear God, to thee who gavest them to us. But as thou didst not lose them in the giving, so we do not lose them by their return. For not as the world giveth, givest thou, O Lord of souls: that which thou givest thou takest not away: for life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only the horizon, and the horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight..

These words were later adapted into the song "Life is Eternal" by Carly Simon, and frequently appear among quotations on the subject of life, death, and sympathy.