Best Inheritance Poems
My mother didn’t cook too well
Although she fed us fine.
Her house was not immaculate,
Much messier than mine.
She didn’t knit, crochet or quilt
But she was great at sports;
She swam and bowled and tennised
Really well, by all reports.
And oh, could she dance up a storm!
She crossword-puzzled, too.
When things were good or bad for me,
Somehow, she always knew.
She passed down many of her traits
But no, I cannot dance
And barely swim but I can bowl,
Though rarely have the chance.
I do the crossword every day
But like her, hate to cook.
While she escaped in naps,
I disappear inside a book.
We all have inclinations
That our parents have bestowed,
Though babies make us wonder
What is waiting down the road.
We hope that they’ll inherit
Just those qualities we’d pick
But we have no way of knowing
What will fade and what will stick.
So they think you are old and shouldn't live alone,
maybe you're too frail to be left on your own
Can't manage your own money or live in your own home,
apprehensive you give up and take up the tossed bone
So many years spent taking care of them,
it's your turn they'll tell you and move you right in
Deep inside you hope to turn back the time,
your life's work was them sure it will be just fine
Your full of anticipation life is going to be easier now
Soon feeling like a relic lifted up and knocked down
You have so many stories memories of days passed,
feel like every story told could soon be your last
They have no time to listen they heard it all before,
tell you they'll talk later as they rush through the door
Feeling like a burden wondering what to do,
no one seems to care about the trials you've been through
To them, you're just repeating things already heard,
but if they'd stop to listen your words are not absurd
Everyone keeps talking about the day you will die,
and who gets what & how your property will divide
Not wanting to wait they reach out with dirty hands,
to take what's in reach they can't wait for the end
You start to feel decrepit and feel your life's a sin,
its a bad situation that no one wins in the end
You find yourself weaker something isn't right,
don't talk to old friends feeling like a fright
Every day grows longer you can't wait for the night,
no one even gets it it's such a dismal plight
You sleep and sleep and sleep to escape reality,
your youth is long faded along with vitality
Closing your mind eye reaching for your partner's hand,
but alone in your bed, this was not the master plan
The dream realm is all you see through the haze,
you lift your eyes up & meet your lost love's gaze
But please don't go too soon to that alternate reality,
there are those that still need to hear the words you speak
Stop dwelling on real or perceived infirmities
or without warning, it will drain your remaining vitality
When you think of death or of the dying that they speak,
hold your head up high and breathe life into the scene
Change your attitude don't die it's not a dream
the younger generation you still need to lead
Hold onto your life and sow a precious seed,
life is worth living don't lose it in a dream
Death lingers
Not in an essence, or scent-
No spectral aura conjured by tears or laughter,
But through wishes left too late and unspoken
Guesses made in blue ink, seal stamped, and filed.
Your legacy pillaged and raped by suited men
'til it's extorted to to pennies.
Your smile and voice are buried in the stacks.
Documents, bills, and letters to be written
Fill the memory baring your name;
Your scent and laughter long gone.
Given choice, I would pick the lowest memory
Over the reality of perpetual argument and stress.
Perhaps it's better to have left only love.
Our piano with silence speaks
The rickety rocking chair squeaks
Where Mama sits and stares each day
Music memories stored away
Our loved inheritance remains
Melodies cycling through our brains.
Written: September 6, 2025
**************
The wind does not knock—
it slips through the soul’s lattice,
a breathless envoy
from the hush between stars.
It strokes the cheek
such as a spirit reliving purity,
then fades away,
becoming simply a whisper
of a melody sewn into stillness.
My terms come apart
in the string of stems,
where faint words
weave between tufts of grass
that curl with hymns
that are lenient to say.
Birdsong flows
from lungs in rooms full of people—
a hymn to the untamed,
to the pain that hums
simply seeking to be felt.
Love, in its most genuine form,
surpasses the structure of cognition—
It resides in the root of air,
in the rhythm of the intangible.
No note is ever lost—
each tender tremble,
each faltering flight,
is archived in the breath
between dusk and dawn.
We save our dreams.
In the shaft of the Horizon,
in sparkles that linger
on the verge of entropy.
These are the germs of tomorrow
tumbling in the blood
of the eternity we dare to call.
darkness
and
a bottomless pit
a vortex
of violent despair
where screams echo
endlessly in chaos
of voices speaking
words and whispers
a deafening roar
(when no one listens
no one understands
the cry in the wilderness)
the cities
built on bones
a shaky foundation
a monument of folly
to mankind
an inheritance
of shadows
from ungodly men
in an ungodly world
they are blind
leaders
of the blind
when the blind
lead the blind
all will fall
into the ditch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mirror lies—or maybe doesn't.
These hands, pale rivers
of raised veins, thin as tracing paper,
are hers.
I press my thumb to the back of my wrist,
watch the blood retreat,
then rush back~
a pulse we share
across decades,
like sunlight through leaves
on the same stubborn oak.
She is here, in the way my knees
crackle in winter,
in the age spots that bloom
where hers once did.
I am becoming
a map she drew
without knowing.
OUR INHERITANCE, (THE FRUIT FROM THEIR LIVES)
WE WERE GIVEN LIFE, A CHANCE TO LIVE OUR DREAMS AND FULFILL OUR DESTINIES
ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT TO WALK IN OUR GOD GIVEN MINISTRIES
WE WERE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY, WHETHER WE WERE GOOD OR BAD
AND TAUGHT FORGIVENESS FROM BOTH OUR MOM AND DAD
WE LEARNED WHAT FAMILY TRULY MEANT, FROM WHAT THEY UNDERSTOOD
THEY SHOWED US MARRIAGE WAS FOREVER, THE WORD DIVORCE WAS NEVER HEARD
WE ALWAYS KNEW THAT NO MATTER WHAT WE HAD DONE EACH DAY
WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, IS WHAT THEIR ACTIONS AND HEARTS WOULD SAY
WE WERE TAUGHT BY EXAMPLE WHEN SOMEONES IN NEED, YOU STOP AND HELP OUT
WITHOUT A THOUGHT AND NEVER A DOUBT
WE WERE BLESSED BECAUSE ABUSE WAS ONLY OUTSIDE OR ON TV
IN OUR HOME IT WAS SOMETHING WE NEVER HAD TO EXPERIENCE OR SEE
WE WATCHED THEM WALK IN CHRIST EACH DAY
IN HOPES THAT TRUTHFULNESS, INTEGRITY AND GIVING, WOULD BECOME OUR WAY
WE HAD A MOTHER AND FATHER, THAT TOOK CARE OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY
WITHOUT SELFISHNESS, BUT WITH GREAT HUMILITY
WE WERE SURROUNDED BY THEIR LAUGHTER AND PEACE
THANK YOU MOM AND DAD THAT ANGER AND TROUBLE WERE THE LEAST
OUR MOTHER AND DADDY WERE AMAZING, TWO OF GOD’S BEST
AND FOR THAT, WE WILL ALWAYS BE ETERNALLY BLESSED
In this quiet room
I will hear my mother's words
frayed from years of missing her
_______________________________
6/27/16
Imperishable Inheritance
“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB
We are born again to a living hope,
Through Jesus’ miracle resurrection.
Our Imperishable Inheritance will not fade away,
Or become subject to oblation.
It’s reserved for us in heaven,
But we must believe by faith.
The dead saints are awaiting their Lord;
Will soon hear the words, “Come forth!”
Our Imperishable Inheritance
Awaits our heavenly claim,
As long as we endure;
Our sweet Lord continually proclaim.
Thank the Lord, who keeps us from stumbling,
Through His dominion and authority;
Gifts us His joy, peace and sanctity;
Fills us to overflowing.
We will claim our Imperishable Inheritance;
The result of having been made immortal.
Praise God for this precious hope,
That promises life eternal.
In God’s great and wonderful mercy,
We are born again to the gift of salvation;
Given the power to overcome—
Delivered from eternal destruction.
It is through the Father’s love,
We stand blameless with great joy;
Claim our Imperishable Inheritance;
Christ’s resurrection to deploy.
A life of perfect undefilement;
Incapable by human flesh;
Dependent upon the Trinity;
All evil’s strongholds to banish.
© Copyright 2012 Maureen LeFanue
www.maureenlefanue.com
Subtle ripples of beliefs
Flowing through generations
Bind us together
INHERITANCE
Born poor
My inheritance was small
A mother’s gift:
No wealth of land,
No gold bought, no deeds,
No reliance on false profits
No
No compliance with false prophets
No cold thought, no greeds,
No stealth of hand:
A mother’s gift
My inheritance was all
Borne pure.
We must all try our hardest to get along with each other
And not let silliness destroy the friendship of our brothers
We're all unique and individual
So make differences invisible
Ignore annoying habits, different from another
© Jack Ellison 2016
We have choices in later life.
However, we have inheritance at birth.
Lillian's son gave a brief reminder of this at a brief chat one day after her passing.
We are given an inheritance of our family.
We do not chose them nor their behaviors brought to the table, so-to-speak.
Cherish your family even if you have to disagree.
Your family will disapppear one-by-one.
Cherish your family.
Richard and I understand our inheritance.
Know your inheritance!
INHERITANCE
Dear child, we lost for you, America,
that apple pie, sprout from a tiny seed.
If you could find the hope of common need,
perhaps you'd save what was America,
from what's become a world of common greed.
Dear child, we lost for you, the dream of dreams,
we thought would always be; 'twould never end;
by now you've guessed, not everyone's your friend,
your apple pie's not always what it seems,
and hope is not what's just around the bend.
Dear child, we lost for you, the right to be,
the right to fly, the right to come and go;
the love of reaching out, to let it show,
your touching of a friend, in all you see,
this was America, but one you'll never know.
© Ron Wilson Arbuthnot
aka Vee Bdpsa the Doylestown Poet