Funeral Poems
Ground Swell
by Mark Jarman
Is nothing real but when I was fifteen,
Going on sixteen, like a corny song?
I see myself so clearly then, and painfully--
Knees bleeding through my usher's uniform
Behind the candy counter in the theater
After a morning's surfing; paddling frantically
To top the brisk outsiders coming to wreck me,
Trundle me clumsily along the beach floor's
Gravel and sand; my knees aching with salt.
Is that all I have to write about?
......
Manuelzinho
by Elizabeth Bishop
Half squatter, half tenant (no rent)—
a sort of inheritance; white,
in your thirties now, and supposed
to supply me with vegetables,
but you don't; or you won't; or you can't
get the idea through your brain—
the world's worst gardener since Cain.
Titled above me, your gardens
ravish my eyes. You edge
the beds of silver cabbages
......
Blaney's Last Directions
by Bryan Stanley Johnson
It is usual
for people in this country
(out of pretended respect
but rather from an impertinent curiosity)
to desire to see
persons
after they are
dead.
It is my earnest request that no person
......
An Anatomy Of The World...
by John Donne
When that rich soul which to her heaven is gone,
Whom all do celebrate, who know they have one
(For who is sure he hath a soul, unless
It see, and judge, and follow worthiness,
And by deeds praise it? He who doth not this,
May lodge an inmate soul, but 'tis not his)
When that queen ended here her progress time,
And, as t'her standing house, to heaven did climb,
Where loath to make the saints attend her long,
She's now a part both of the choir, and song;
......
The Odyssey: Book 12
by Homer
"After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into
the open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island where there
is dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to
the sands and got out of her on to the shore, where we went to sleep
and waited till day should break.
"Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I
sent some men to Circe's house to fetch the body of Elpenor. We cut
firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and
after we had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral
rites. When his body and armour had been burned to ashes, we raised
......
bouquet of white flowers
by Ella Sophia
i never received flowers
there was none
, not even the color i like
no yellow , no pink , no purple
i never received flowers
only when i was buried
mind buried alive
body deep down at sea
......
If Only I Could Speak
by Everleigh Blackburn
Oh mother, oh father, if only I could speak
If only I could tell you all that I feel,
All that I wish I had said before it was too late.
I wish I could tell you that I love you,
That your laughter was the music of my heart,
That your smile was my guiding light in the darkest of nights.
I wish I could tell you that I'm sorry,
For the pain I caused, for the tears I made you cry,
......
In One City
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
I know a funeral when I walk into one
I can tell between a funeral and a burial
They are two entirely different artworks
One is done on grand canvas, with drunken strokes
Of sashaying brush and bleeding paints;
The other is done on mere sand, with foot and hand,
Forming sandcastles built by toddlers.
I know too well because I have my senses
Intact after the last funeral I attended on a gambolling coast.
I should know because I participated in the burial of a
......
Saying Goodbye
by Haych Nano
Today we place you to final rest
know that with your presence we've been blessed.
six feet down in your grave
we shed a tear, goodbye we wave.
the time has come to let you go
the sound rings out of the graveyard crow.
the clouds may part, the sun may shine
the priest speaks out, its now the time.
family cuddle and hug as we walk away
i'll never forget such a painful day.
......
Fathers Funeral
by Haych Nano
Today we place you to final rest
know that with your presence we've been blessed.
six feet down in your grave
we shed a tear, goodbye we wave.
the time has come to let you go
the sound rings out of the graveyard crow.
the clouds may part, the sun may shine
the priest speaks out, its now the time.
family cuddle and hug as we walk away
i'll never forget such a painful day.
......
