Best Bereavement Poems

Grim fog, I praise the shelter of your drear,
the sundown ghost morose not grandiose,
I walk alone - but, no -- with my despair;
a bittern bids a bitter adiós.

The breakers so in agony they gnash
and gnaw the strand with thrash of foamy green,
the tempest witch brings...

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She wept as they buried her one true love.
Each day thereafter she brought him a rose,
the flower she knew he was fondest of.
Her grief unbearable, beyond repose.
What pain and suffering his death bestows.

Nothing prevented her daily visit.
She didn't want him to feel all alone.
When beside...

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We buried him under the large yew tree,
We all wore thick face masks as they should be.
The shade of the green yew tree was pleasant.
Yet we all knew the poison there present.

It was not his wish to bury him there.
He died under the tree eating...

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Bha e brèagha an-de
(It was Beautiful Yesterday)


There was a sailing vessel
With many a sail proudly lapping in the wind
A flag of the Celtic honor, in ruin an rented
As all the sailors sing
Of my love for you
From long ago
Before death became our friend
Oh would I be...

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I know your spirit is finally free 
when I scattered your ashes yesterday 
Cancer has taken you away from me 
solitude is now the price I must pay 

When I scattered your ashes yesterday 
I said adieu to the love of my life 
Solitude is...

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O Winter, why this desolation? Trees, once verdant now stand bare
Flowers, long in hibernation; clouds that frown with ominous stare,
Bleak winds chill the rain-soaked bones and blow the leaves from yard to yard
Winter is for hardy souls whose skin is thick when life runs hard.

Come...

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Tears no longer come, 
dried ducts of wrung emotion,
denied one more drop of release.

... but only to feel

Feel your finite presence beside me,
inhaling your sweet scent to memory.

Feel your heart pulsate through the calfskin
of the despair that seals me in its snare.

Rhythms of a hopeless...

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"If I could have put you in my heart, 
if but I could have wrapped you in myself,
how glad I should have been.
And now the chart 
of memory unroils again to me.
The course of our journey here,
here where we part."     ...

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A wilted violet bows its pretty purple head,
Like me it has no energy as sorrow pleads.
My love, once so pure and vibrant now is dead.
My heart filled with passion, stilled, it bleeds.

I cannot bring him back though it would seem
I sometimes find him young and...

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How does it feel?
It's hard to tell
Sad when I pause
Taking moments to dwell

It's the pearl that is lost
It's the half-empty shell 
It's the un-told story
It's the water-less well

How does it feel?
Deep emotion stirs
Where the long goodbye
Has now lifted it's curse

And the shadowy valley
At last is...

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Translation below (in progress)


Celui qui n'a pas de cœur
Ne doit jamais reposer en paix

He who has no heart
Will never rest in peace


J’étais Charlie

De ma tombe
Mon âme pleure encore rouge
L’encre coule encore
Arrosage des fleurs ci-dessus
Les fleurs, fortes et belles
Elles doivent étouffer vos manières diaboliques
J'étais Charlie, je...

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Walking aimlessly through the woods
Searching for that spot we once stood
Pouring out my heart and my tears
Reliving memories of those special years

Red and orange and purple from green
Rich autumn colors, a sight to be seen
The winds of change quickly blowing in
With it a new chapter...

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I was wiping the dust off an old snow globe in the upstairs attic, when a mop of honey-blonde hair suddenly appeared through the wooden flooring.
     "I thought I'd find you here," said the voice, warm and feminine. It was a...

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Like tender loving arms, they wrap around
   old monuments of stone set on the ground;
those silent sentinels that stand their guard
   above the souls, we honor and regard.

To honor and regard through all the years
   when loved ones come...

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Hibiscus rays of light
herald the sun's stretch from slumber
in a bloom of ravishing red passion- 
Oh! how I despise dawn's blushing optimism
and lust for life!
for I am too young to cry
but too old not to

a handful of heartbeats ago
we crystal-gazed into evening's lustrous orb 
anticipating...

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