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Famous Short Death Poems. Short Death Poetry by Famous Poets

Famous Short Death Poems. Short Death Poetry by Famous Poets. A collection of the all-time best Death short poems

See also: Short Member Poems

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by Emily Dickinson

Soul, take thy risk.

 Soul, take thy risk.
With Death to be
Were better than be not
With thee


by W S Merwin

Death Hand

Temptations still nest in it like basilisks.
Hang it up till the rings fall.


by Kobayashi Issa

A bath when you're born

 His death poem:

 A bath when you're born,
 a bath when you die,
 how stupid.


by Rg Gregory

conturbat me

 martin’s death
has made me scared
of the old bat
that clings to the eaves
waiting to enter the house


by Emily Dickinson

Love -- is anterior to Life --

 Love -- is anterior to Life --
Posterior -- to Death --
Initial of Creation, and
The Exponent of Earth --


by Walt Whitman

Portals.

 WHAT are those of the known, but to ascend and enter the Unknown? 
And what are those of life, but for Death?


by Emily Dickinson

Triumph -- may be of several kinds

 Triumph -- may be of several kinds --
There's Triumph in the Room
When that Old Imperator -- Death --
By Faith


by Emily Dickinson

Witchcraft has not a Pedigree

 Witchcraft has not a Pedigree
'Tis early as our Breath
And mourners meet it going out
The moment of our death --


by Kobayashi Issa

Windy fall

 At my daughter's grave, thirty days
after her death:

 Windy fall--
 these are the scarlet flowers
 she liked to pick.


by Emily Dickinson

Lay this Laurel on the One

 Lay this Laurel on the One
Too intrinsic for Renown --
Laurel -- veil your deathless tree --
Him you chasten, that is He!


by Emily Dickinson

The first We knew of Him was Death --

 The first We knew of Him was Death --
The second -- was -- Renown --
Except the first had justified
The second had not been.


by Robert Burns

53. Lines on the Author’s Death

 HE who of Rankine sang, lies stiff and dead,
And a green grassy hillock hides his head;
Alas! alas! a devilish change indeed.


by Robert Burns

121. Epitaph on “Wee Johnnie”

 WHOE’ER thou art, O reader, know
 That Death has murder’d Johnie;
An’ here his body lies fu’ low;
 For saul he ne’er had ony.


by Robert Burns

47. Epitaph on a Noisy Polemic

 BELOW thir stanes lie Jamie’s banes;
 O Death, it’s my opinion,
Thou ne’er took such a bleth’rin bitch
 Into thy dark dominion!


by Friedrich von Schiller

The Genius With The Inverted Torch

 Lovely he looks, 'tis true, with the light of his torch now extinguished;
But remember that death is not aesthetic, my friends!


by J R R Tolkien

Athelas

 When the black breath blows,
And death's shadow grows,
Come Athelas! Come Athelas!
Life to the dying,
In the king's hand lying!


by William Morris

Day

 I am Day; I bring again
Life and glory, Love and pain:
Awake, arise! from death to death
Through me the World's tale quickeneth.


by William Morris

Night

 I am Night: I bring again
Hope of pleasure, rest from pain:
Thoughts unsaid 'twixt Life and Death
My fruitful silence quickeneth.


by Robert Burns

35. Epitaph on William Hood, Senior

 HERE Souter Hood in death does sleep;
 To hell if he’s gane thither,
Satan, gie him thy gear to keep;
 He’ll haud it weel thegither.


by Walter Savage Landor

Death Stands Above Me, Whispering Low

 Death stands above me, whispering low 
I know not what into my ear:
Of his strange language all I know 
Is, there is not a word of fear.


by Robert Burns

187. Epigram on Parting with a kind Host in the Highlands

 WHEN Death’s dark stream I ferry o’er,
 (A time that surely shall come,)
In Heav’n itself I’ll ask no more,
 Than just a Highland welcome.


by Stevie Smith

My Heart Was Full

 My heart was full of softening showers,
I used to swing like this for hours,
I did not care for war or death,
I was glad to draw my breath.


by Robert Burns

457. Epitaph on Wm. Graham, Esq., of Mossknowe

 “STOP thief!” dame Nature call’d to Death,
As Willy drew his latest breath;
How shall I make a fool again?
My choicest model thou hast ta’en.


by Emily Dickinson

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some

 A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
Who till they died, did not alive become --
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, Vitality begun.


by Paul Celan

Landscape

 tall poplars -- human beings of this earth!
black pounds of happiness -- you mirror them to death!

I saw you, sister, stand in that effulgence.


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