Best Epitaphs Poems

  As heartrose epitaphs
swathe earthly echoes
   with swelled up  w a v e s
  of spiritual sirens,
sea-fairies collide
  with honeysuckle footprints,
traced by mint-green manta rays
  along aquatic vessel of karma,
 pumping a nascent wilderness. 

In shawls of raven...

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The eyes behind a head inclined reflect a universe

   Of shanty towns and kings in crowns and parties in a hearse,
   Of heaping mounds of coffee grounds and pennies in a purse,
   Of heart attacks in shoddy shacks, of...

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Lecherous Luther was wont to grope
He ceased to function at the end of a rope!

Here lies Cletus as stiff as a board
He slipped on the ice and busted his gourd!

Here rests our dear Ruby who failed to duck
She was beaned on her noggin by a...

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Cecil the Magician knew a heap of tricks,
But, alas, couldn't get himself out of this fix!

Carl was laid to rest for his eternal snooze,
Brought about by guzzling too much booze!

Pete was a rock-hard liberal Democrat.
Lord, be merciful and forgive him for that!

'Twas well-known that Cletus...

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Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their high, lonely circuits may tell. 
—Michael R. Burch, after Glaucus

Passerby,...

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Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally fall,
it's just that we can never catch them all.



Laughter’s Cry
by...

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Oh I have done it now, I have failed you yet
Upon whose bones and shoulders I've trampled 
With the rightful heir's death
Chaining myself to a throne of thorns
Unequally yoked with my kinsmen
Who drag the crown over these hallowed grounds
The dead tell no lies for we...

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Athenian Epitaphs II

These are ancient Greek epitaphs for lost family and friends, including dogs and other animals ...

Now his voice is prisoned in the silent pathways of the night: 
his owner's faithful Maltese... 
but will he still bark again, on sight? 
—Michael R. Burch, after...

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PANED REFLECTIONS

Here lies the glazier, Peter Lee
His wife is shattered, naturally!


LAST NIGHTS ON THE TILES

Alas poor Joe, I knew him well
He fixed my roof before he fell!


SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Here lie the bones of Jones the vet
Inside his boa constrictor pet!


HE KNEW HIS STUFF

Ted, ...

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My eyes swept over the epitaph
tracing letter and syllable like a finger on braille
with each read the lines smudged
it all became a hazy blur
the message struck my eye with a blinding glare

I fumbled on my keyboard keys
a blindness setting in like Pharaoh's plague
my knuckles freezing...

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Now, I'm a very average and simple guy,
But, doggone it, when it comes my time to die,
I'd like a nice epitaph etched upon my stone,
To fondly remember me by when I'm gone!

Here are a few suggestions for you to mull over,
When I cease to function...

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All our Epitaphs 
Lord only knows. 

May my God make me worthy and my Devil make me fine. 
For both they are at odds to own this soul of mine. 
For though I"m never good at ever being bad, 
I have this Cross to bare...

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Evening shades are deepening
Peaceful hues and tones
In the darkness creeping
There’s a silence in the stones
Anonymous lies sleeping
Psalms praising the unknown
Heaven holds thee in its keeping
Sings the silence of the stones....

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams

That country wench bewitches your heart?
Hell, her most beguiling art’s
hiking her dress
to seduce you with her ankles' nakedness!
Sappho, fragment 57, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Stranger, rest your weary legs beneath the elms;
hear how coolly the breeze murmurs through their branches;
then...

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Epigrams/Epitaphs

Childless
by Michael R. Burch

How can she bear her grief?
Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight
of one fallen star.

***

Laughter’s Cry
by Michael R. Burch 

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.
Because death is a mystery, we cry
when one is gone, our numbering...

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