Best Memorial Poems
~Homeless~
A lost guardian angel, sitting on the edge of everything
I push my shopping cart along the cracks of destiny
My house sits on the corner of every mission street
My tin coffee cup feeds on caring heartbeats
My possession is the icon of war, six missing buttons
Navy and white my grandfathers 70-yr-old military tunic.
My Jacket- My blanket
My Jacket from which I am inseparable
My Jacket - represents the mobility of life
This Jacket is my home.
Not with my arms but with a heart
that blesses your reveries, may peace reside
within your chest... is it possible to love you
less? Perhaps allow the sun to brush your hair
in the luminescence of dawn?
Even autumn envies you as white light
moves with your scent and possesses
your laughter never to be mine again in times
of harvest or falling rain…
and from stars above, may your eyes
remember our blades of grass
while I half-close the damp field of memorials
creaking on the burial of a resting place
that finds me kneeling, wailing, asking
how time can drown our adventures
much too soon...
as I stumble upon this cruel, bruised night
you May-
think me odd perhaps strange
peculiar and off the wall-
but I
like to wander cemeteries
among rows on rows
I love the tranquility
there is a peace like no other
where hidden birds sing melodies
and little creatures scurry
and time stands still
and I like to read inscriptions
on tombstones in the dappled sun
or rain wet or snow covered
gravestones monolith
flagstones flat and small
all the RIP inscriptions
among rows on rows
the relic stones I do adore
those traces
of family history
faded now and obscure
covered in moss some toppled over
I have to get close to read
and even then it is a mystery
on a bright sunny day
camera in hand journal ready
my mind at peace
I noted one stone inscription
reading U N K N O W N
this of all the stones this broke my heart
among rows on rows
no name no date no record
no flowers ever I am sure
no memorial of any kind
a homeless man, perhaps
or woman, maybe
a baby unwanted so sad
of all the commemorative slabs
the huge monuments with many names
with beautiful words engraved
of remembrance with dates and names
this unknown stone has broken my heart . . .
____________________________
November 9, 2017
Poetry/Free Verse/One Stone-Unknown
Copyright Protected, ID 17-9597-09-0
All Rights Reserved. Written Under Pseudonym.
Written for the contest, Two Word Challenge
sponsor, John Lawless
Second Place
"A cappuccino would be nice
And thank you Anne dear friend.
Since Bert has died I've felt quite lost,
But time has helped things mend."
"I guess what hurt the most dear Anne
Was finding in Bert's will;
To me he never left a thing;
A truly bitter pill."
"He never left you anything!
I thought Bert more sincere,
But is that diamond ring not new
You're wearing sister dear?"
"Well let me put it this way Anne.
Bert's will did leave a bit;
Five grand for a memorial stone
And this dear Anne ... is it."
Emotions flooded my very soul as I viewed that Sacred Wall.
Etched for all eternity are hero's names who sacrificed their all.
I sensed that I was on hallowed soil as I knelt on bended knee.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
I offered a silent prayer for each of the names that I caressed.
Tho' their time here was brief, by them we were truly blessed.
They placed national destiny above their own defending liberty.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
They were ordinary Americans who performed extraordinary things,
Such grand and noble acts to ensure that freedom's bell yet rings!
They gave their full measure that humankind might live free.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
What might they have become, I muse, had fate not dealt them so,
A teacher, doctor, a farmer? Alas, we shall never know.
To teach nations The Golden Rule, I suspect would be their plea.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
Tho' grander monuments have been built for those of greater fame,
This simple yet powerful memorial will keep alive the flame,
Of humanity's quest for brotherhood, peace and dignity.
I touched The Wall today, but more than that, The Wall touched me.
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(© All Rights Reserved)
Their candles burnt brightly long ago
Providing for us and watching us grow
But the years passed by and took their toll
And left behind gaps in our soul.
When we were young they were always there
And that they'd be there forever how wrong we were
Old age comes make no mistake
Accepting it is hard to take.
They looked like giants when we were small
Picked us up when we had a fall
When we were upset they wiped our tears
And supported us throughout the years.
Their task now done, we're left behind
And it makes you think that life's unkind
Here today and gone tomorrow
All that is left is pain and sorrow.
But we remember too, those in their prime
Whose candles went out before their time
One thing I know they wouldn't want you sad
Look back and remember the good times that you had.
Times a great healer people often say
But the void that they leave does' not fade away
Their memories live on in our hearts and mind
Comfort it will bring you, that I hope you will find.
Memories do surface from time to time
When you hear a song or even this rhyme
It's dedicated to those who have gone to their rest
And the years they were with us were surely the best.
( I composed this poem for a recent family reunion dedicating it to our parents and younger members of the family who have gone to their rest.)
Written 7th November 2017
For Your Best Poem Ever Poetry Contest
Sponsored By Chantelle Ann Cooke.
The storm was wildest when
He walked on water
The vines were at their greenest
He turned water into wine
For faithfulness, union and reunion
When men would forsake all of God
He will return for His Beloved
Who is He? An open, unfolding mystery
Because He loved so much He bled and bled
For His country and Family
My greatest wish is for humanity
Treating each other with civility
Regardless of each one’s ethnicity
All men should be treated with dignity
For when I hear of discrimination
It generates the greatest repulsion
And so as not to create confusion
Every religion deserves inclusion
Judging books by their covers can only bring
More hate, intolerance as hope takes wing
If we could learn to be more accepting
Bells of world peace would surely be chiming
So join me now in prayer for acceptance
And an end to widespread intolerance
Beyond war there will be a transcendence
Through God’s plan we’ll live in benevolence
*Entry for Kristen’s “If I had one wish” contest
By Carolyn Devonshire
(Thanks for reading. No comments needed. Will be away on vacation for the next
week and unable to return the favor. Have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday!)
May May Be
By Franklin Price
4/25/2015
May may be the nicest month
Of all the dozen best
You may ask why would I say this
Let us put it to the test
The days of winter gone
Freakish April in the past
Flowers are still blooming
We have not seen the last
The days have balmy temperatures
The nights are sleeping cool
Hot Summer days are not yet here
The kids are still in school
I remember dancing 'round the pole
When I was in grade three
Over under round about
Was a lot of fun for me
May has many holidays
In abundance they abound
Can celebrate or commemorate
With silence or with sound
May Day's the first with dancing pole
Cinco de Mayo, Teacher's Day
Victory in Europe
Take your mother out and pay
Don't forget our soldiers
For our freedom lives they give
Memorial Day is at the end
Celebrate the lives you live
For May and all the other months
Last words I say to you
Respect yourself and others
In everything you say and do
A country yearns industry
from assiduous minds revolutionary,
cities conceived with mind set and skill
yet lay insipid in the body of Britannia
those in need of life’s blood,
akin to human organs
served only; by arterial veins.
The first sod to lift an unfolding nation
the first cut the inauguration the call,
have a thought pleasure seeker
enduring men with pick, shovel, some did fall,
his sweat given freely or not as the case may be
to mingle with earth removed
or deep within copse ghyll may well be for a tree.
The Dales emptied, of its men
famine ravaged Ireland too,
drawn towards the rush of new born adrenaline
a creation of foresight
when the need for this an artery to flow
through lock, tunnel aqueduct,
transforming her virgin land
albeit out of trades of old,
an era steeped in tradition
tools an extension: of one’s own hand.
Adverse weather geography
this realm having found fame,
complexity from above, below,
the elements the environment
nothing to stand in obsessions way,
from soil to solid rock, energy sapping
clods of clay negotiated all
amidst many tongues, yet same laborious conclusion
wheeled away by the barrowman;
horse and cart.
This precious land host to many heroes
those upon columns stand tall,
our sons live on in remembrance
a memorial for them all,
so to this symbolic structure
craved through hostile terrain,
a burly navvies sculptured cleft
within the very earth
his body one day to lay.
Oh the city Leeds, city Liverpool and those in between
the bargees upon the cut there now do dwell
living within the ideals of another time sown
but of ease it is with just a memory
conservation the historic debt on loan!
© Harry J Horsman 2013
I look in your eyes
what do I see
A shell of myself
who I used to be
A minuscule fragment
of who I was before
When red carpet
stretched out across my floor
A day and time
opportunities, abundant
Long before I became
hopelessly redundant
I see an array of patches
from my many mistakes
My eyes tell a story
of painful heartaches
A veil across my skin
of wrinkles and cellulite
Shards from the past
when my future was bright
Bags under my eyes
from restless nights
Not dead, but a disgrace
I've become a blight
My once white teeth
Now a yellowish tint
Thanks to years of smoking
to relax and vent
I despise you
for what you reveal to me
You show me ugly
and how it feels to be
Unheeding of the causes
for my bruises and scars
You show only the top layer
worn and charred
You are so vain
with your spotless surface
Come to think of it
you really serve no purpose
You make people conceited
More often, depressed
It doesn't effect you at all
you feel no distress
You hold your head high
As if your invincible
No one dare break you
Superstition or principal
But I can see through
As clear as glass
You have no soul
Just useless mass
You're a thief of identities
Because you haven't, your own
No personality to claim
An ever changing clone
Not a person or a place
Just a thing
With nothing to give
Nothing to bring
There will come a day
You will shatter to pieces
Your frame will fall apart
At the perfectly painted creases
There will be no memorial
They will trash your remains
No one will miss you
A thing without a name
When robins appear an angel is near.
* * *
A memorial dedicated to my mother who suffered from dementia for many years.
November 1920 - July 2008
Mother and Dementia
When dementia creeps in, through the back door
Loving is needed, like never before...
An expressionless face, an empty heart
A once dazzling life that had lost it's spark
I saw your sad tears and felt every fear
Of foggy days that for you never cleared.
All disappeared, those happy golden years
Memories you held, so precious, so dear
The loveliest of smiles, gone without trace
Who was that stranger who dwelt in your place.
Tenderness was missing, none existing
Care and affection you were resisting
It sure broke my heart, to see you like that
When we'd shared love and friendship in the past.
My one and only forever mother
There couldn't have been a better another
I still pray in hope, again and again
You didn't suffer any physical pain.
As you loved and cared, like a mother should
I cared for you, as I promised I would
I hope that these words to heaven get through
"Dearest Mother, I will always love you."
25th July 2021
Noor* of Taj Mahal, jeweled in red stone
death or love, tranquil oasis alone
rich jasper and jade hanging on its walls
in cold melody, mourning music falls
Mesmerizing bride in gossamer gown
Veil reveals... the majestic palace crown.
A medley of corsage strewn in sealed dream
opulent facade, beauty is the theme
Pale blue sky in her iconic magic
wax melded moonlight triumphs a tragic
covenant of love, splendor celebrates
passion so strong will never recreate
Aurora of a queen in marble white
glinting Yamuna*, her sole copyright.
* Noor is an urdu word meaning Light
* Yamuna is the river on the banks of which Taj Mahal lies.
Taj Mahal means Crown of the Palace
19th July 2019
Sponsor William Kekaula
Contest Name ILMO My Mom 06-24-29-08-04-09--90th Heavenly Birthday--The Most Beautiful Sonnet
Tempest gone, darkened skies have all blown past,
tho' blue grey dawn laughs at my feeble fist.
A knight's heart equanimity lost...
thrown now into these land mines I placed,
and doom of Middle Earth left forsaken.
Can you help me find the song's refrain once known..
those cherished, lilting tunes I held so dear?
or will you turn your head away from this pitiful Argonath?
Such misfortune I would not wish upon the lonely wraith..,
sinew and bone of my father bequeathed, still rests in beating heart,
though lesson'd by the extolling of the crowd.
Cast out the demon's eyes of little or no purpose,
show me the way to a land without exile.
Make all hast to drown sorrows of a forgotten time..
Dúnedain voices raised in unison.., tho' din of light now long gone.
The whistles screamed that cold dark night
Winter, 1903
At least fourteen would perish
Way out on the prairie
The westbound Sunset Limited,
Eastbound Crescent City Express,
Met head on in a collision
Lives lost in great distress
Horror met the rescuers
Two twisted trains in flames
Of fourteen known to've perished
Of two, were not found names
A hundred plus years later,
On the date and pre-dawn hour
We'd come to the memorial plaque
With Teddy bears and flowers
Holding our thoughts in silence
We walked along the trail
Remembering the violence;
Their deaths upon that rail
Precisely 2:50 A.M
What was it? We don't know
But in our silent vigil
We heard a whistle blow
Sounding clear across the night
Once long, Three short, Last long
But there was nothing in our sight
Praying - we moved along
Our memorial under silver stars
For those perished on the track
Ended as we got in cars
With one last look-
a century back
We'll never solve the mystery
But do we need to know?
Commemorating history
We heard a whistle blow