Best Cremation Poems
Tell me, mother
what did the fire
whisper to you
as it wrapped your frail body
in its flaming blanket
as it caressed your cheeks
and clenched your hands
as it kissed your eyelids
the way I tenderly used to
closing those deep oceans of love
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Posted on February 1, 2022
collaboration with Chandana Ramachandran
I stay close to home these days,
my roaming needs seeming to
expire with age, finding more
of what I need in the Silence
of packing; of course, this
worn-out body is far too cumbersome
to even contemplate wanting – like
frayed clothing, now best for rags;
like empty cans for the recyclable:
I wonder how Earth will handle
my re-purposing?~as for my poetry,
will my works know future lips? Be
Whispered and sung, inspiring others
fancying fireside light and chat, within
the warmth of flickering, yet mysterious
shadows? Or will my words, unceremoniously
settle like bird droppings on tombstones,
surrounded by laurels of weeds, a forgotten
chapter? That settles it, I will opt for cremation!
Leaving tombstones and graves for
most politicians, TV Evangelists, and
Movie-stars, needing their world
monuments where the Devil will
easily find them for substantive
reunions....
When his truck met
with nature so pure,
Did he know his time
was coming to an end?
Basic elements of life
taught each day
not to think twice.
Giving humans oxygen,
yet encouraging a raging fire,
just ordinary trees.
Did he know they would
cut his time short?
A cremation vault so sacred
destroys our lives.
It put him in a vase
rather than a box.
Does he know now
that he has come
to an end?
-Caroline Youngless
He was always known to everyone as Uncle Albert,
He used to sign all my birthday cards as Uncle Albert,
He used to turn around when I shouted Uncle Albert,
He was who we visited when we went to see Uncle Albert.
But I'm sorry to say, he's now belated,
Sadly passed away, dead and cremated.
And what I can't understand,
And what I am eager to learn,
Is why has everyone stopped calling him Uncle Albert,
And started calling him Uncle Ern?
Wrap-me-up in a sheet, dig a hole, dump me in!
Let me fertilize a tree, would that be a sin?
Don't want no one cryin' over a shell of me...
Let me turn back to earth and rot naturally!
CREMATION - Poem for a Husband and Probably his Wife, Also
He wants his bones
No more grown
To her, he groans…
Wants loss of bones
That is, Cremation!
He wants to lose
That precious body
No chance for a last toddy
That route couldn’t keep
Those healthy bones
So it is she who’ll acquiesce
And lose her bones, his bones,
no moans
That is, Cremation!
His wife, instead
Enjoys their bed
She wants to visit
Him, without limit
Though gone, she’d like to see
His bones together, then
Underneath the green, no mind the weather
Please! No Cremation
Visiting him over the dark sky
Underneath that green bed
No one could ever emit a sigh
For, it is known, all others will tread.
Marriage ‘til death departed?
This gal won’t see him martyred
Her bones beside his bones
Or left to her, not his, moans.
He’d like to have sister’s no-bones
In with us! So-La! La!
Setting up a threesome
Ending that freesome.
No more, the Twosome!
About it, make no bones
Cremations don’t go like loans
Paid off, reverse no possibility
Done, there’s now no probability.
Gone, the bones to other energies
Try o try to find those synergies
Gone, is the dust forevermore,
Now - the ashes - you must store.
Gone, the body, evermore.
Ashes to ashes, so it is said
While here, be sure to enjoy your bed.
Cremation, Darnation!
(to be read loud + emphatically)
Carol Rae Bradford
March 2, 2006
9:00 am thru 10:00 am
A sliver of bright light
seeps into the darkness
Echo of voices reverberate inside my head
I'm in limbo,
I can't move
Am I alive, am I dead?
I don't feel any pain,
I don't feel much of anything
But there's a sense of dread foreshadowing me,
an unease that I can't seem to shake free
I want to scream,
but I'm disoriented thoroughly
My eyes move, that's all, nothing else
So I glance around,
I see white lab coats, and black body bags on metal slabs
An antiseptic smell permeates the air,
masking the scent that death lives here
The voices are slowly becoming clear,
and what I'm hearing brings horror to my ear
They're talking very dispassionately about dispatching me,
how there's no need to contact next of kin, given I'm government property
I give a silent scream: somebody help me please!
My lips can't move though,
I'm paralyzed completely
What happened to me, how did I get in this predicament?
Memory is foggy, with only one mental flash coming in and out
A battlefield with sounds of gunfire and bombs,
I must be a soldier no doubt
But those cold, rational voices intrude on me again,
and I get more terrified by what they're saying
They say they want to remove my cybernetic limbs,
download the memory in my positronic brain
Place it in a new prototype version, then scrap the remains
Burn all the evidence,
incinerate any signs of their illegal activity
I want to scream I'm alive
Listen, listen to me!
I sense movement, wheels rolling swiftly
Now I'm descending into a dark place,
towards a room aglow, with a sign above it that says:
Ye who enter, abandon all hope
I let out one last silent scream
My eyes widen as I approach the flames, but I can feel no heat
I hear my inner voice intone a final notation ...
RCN unit #0247895
has been summarily sentenced to a premature cremation
They knew a secret that we've not yet found
Indians placed their dead in burial mounds
or laid them to rest in beds above ground
where the Great Spirit walks and nature abounds
Blame arrogant Pharaohs who made the request
to preserve their bodies, 'twas cocky at best
Be-gone foul mummies! 'Tis the end of thy quest!
Take a float down the Nile! Make room for the rest!
Reserved parking spots are clearly unwise
We'll run out of room before the world dies
Imagine God peering down with a gasp of surprise
viewing one giant graveyard beneath His blue skies
Forget the autopsy, don't waste your red tape
By-pass parlor-homes that paupers escape
No need for insurance or credit card rape
no bankrupting service, no coffin to drape
Re-cycle me please, no soul wants to see
a porcelain shell of what I used to be
Let me melt in good soil and help sprout a new tree
Let me rest in cool earth and rot naturally
The burning, it cremates my chances
A raging fire- it jumps, it dances
Lighting new paths then turning them to ash
Sweeping up the future to mix them with the trash
Destroying my organs, ripping through their being
Tearing my faith and preventing hope from seeing
I promise one day I will put out the flame
For the ignition, I'm the only one to blame
I want to strike the match in a different place
I crave its full effects and not a mere trace
I need it, and want it to show on my face
Happiness should be here, and I'm so sick of the chase
I cremated you
In scorching flames of passion
His blaze a consuming fire
Now only ashes
I have no tears left to cry
The kind wind bears you away
Eileen Manassian Ghali
Of a holocaust, the last redemption;
like a spirit
rising from its body at the end,
the earth ascends to heaven
and for a moment steals infinity
and artfully inserts it
into everyday.
Beyond that vain acridity,
it is the dying
that unites the earth and sky.
This transitory brotherhood
with fog and mist and cloud
now tints the air
as one amorphous curtain drifts
to make the known surreal.
And out of chaos
comes another harbinger
of paradise.
~
Together in Spirit.
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine, we are forever together in love, heart, mind, and spirit. Their love was sealed upon each other’s heart’s as their eye’s glimpsed into the eyes of the other, for love reaches beyond death! Forever sheltered in love that was blessed by God above.
The bonds of their love were as deep as the ocean and higher than the moon. Their hearts cemented for all eternity. As seeds grow in a garden, so their love flourished and grew. Having come together emotionally, and spiritually they became one! What God hath joined “not even death can tear apart”!
Love, the most precious gift was always cherished, it became a solid foundation, ensuring, “they would remain joined in death” as they were in life. From ashes they came and to ashes they returned. Together their ashes were mixed then laid to rest, “side by side”. Their spirits joined, to share their love with one another. In life they shared many seasons, never allowing troubles to last for long. They continued living with hope, believing their love would last for all eternity.
Their challenges now their triumphs, being sheltered under the wings of the lord. Finding comfort in one another they are blessed with a beautiful understanding and a heavenly love as they joined. They nourished their lives and love, by building an oasis as they repeated these three little words, I love you”!
Having plunged into the depths of each other’s heart and spirit, a forever commitment forged. Love is the balm of the heart and spirit, giving way to affection. Today and every day, may we fill our minds and hearts with the wonderful memories we hold so dear. Love is like a delicate dance in poetry, shared by those who see and hear the words spoken and those left unspoken!
Dad and mom stand before God, hand in hand untarnished and loved. God is love and they dwell in his love! The path they walk is filled with joy and gladness. Now laid to rest with loving hearts and gentle hands they will forever be remembered and so too shall we be remembered.
David Edward Spivey and Sylvia Irene Spivey Laid to rest together forever.
Debbie knapp
Cremate my soulless body
and collect my ashes in a black urn
Take my flakes of cinder
and free them into the calm Pacific
Let my spirit flow toward peace
and embrace the waves of eternity.
Don’t spread cremation crumble on burnt toast.
Is what the undertaker said about dad’s ashes.
My furrowed brow responds…
Why? Who would do such a thing?
If you were to follow a random person
from the street, ever wonder, where it might lead?
You just might pick some ordinary schmo.
single?
innocent?
cavalier?
kind?
You may find out something—wishing you hadn’t
psycho?
shallow?
yokel?
callous?
hapless?
omnicidal?
Would you spread cremation crumble
on burnt toast or follow a random street person?
Morning Cremation #2
Morning Cremation
Soul treading water
A butterfly pinned
Cruel trophy
Not even under glass, discarded
Exposed to what the sky can give
Powdered wings, dusting lost
Pulled off in a gust, dropped
In the tall grass of complex dances
Caught, I swing and sway, mute to questions
Even I had my limit, now all gone but
My quiet rage
An ember set to ignite, the wind
Picks up a stilled wing, I catch
a thermal, a tiny fireball
I'll look pretty as I tumble by though.