Best Mori Poems
The bells call forth from mighty tower keeps
To herald passing souls from here to there
The orange sun upon the hilltop creeps
It crucifies night's cold and blind despair
And light of day itself may also bluff
The flower blooms and will too soon dissolve
There is no virtue virtuous enough
To ban the steady tide of death's resolve
If permanence is just a fleeting dream,
Why burden every man and child fair?
To ask is chasing shadows down a stream
Fall not into the well of when or where
These words are written clear for all to see:
What I am now you too shall one day be
we are mere travelers
through this plane
who we are
what we posses
are sands
through the hour glass
memento mori
we are already gone
to God
who waits at the end of time
carpe diem
live it
love it
Remember the sole reason you walk on this earth
Remember the reason you live
Though you will die, eventually,
You have one life with which to give.
So make the best of life today
Before you notice it slipping by
Make sure you are the best you can be
And don't make any other person cry.
Remember to do your good for the world
Remember to be the one
Who never stops giving, who always is working
Until the day is done.
The world doesn't last forever
And neither does a body
Use it to other's advantage
Make sure you never have to say sorry.
So be that one person, that giving soul
Make the best of your life
Do the right thing, but you must remember;
Remember that you will die.
Long hair, beautiful and dark like a starless night sky,
perfectly matching her personality.
A face as intoxicating as an empty bottle of rye
with eyes that glare dogmatically.
Her body is an hourglass
and my time is running out.
Composure I must amass
for these feelings I know little about.
She is a book filled with an unknown story
written in the blood ink of her past lovers --
my very own memento mori,
which if ignored will put me under the covers.
Covers from which I will not rise,
stuck beneath her sheet of lies.
The lament of an evil man on the eve of death:
“It is twilight in paradise
And the end of my idle life
Of lavish pleasure is nigh.
My dreams benighted,
Crumbling before my eyes,
I sorely regret frittering away
Those calm prosperous days
Of youth, wealth and peace
On plunder and wicked deeds,
Wrathful violence and conspiracies,
On fraud, libel and charlatanry,
And slender courtesans who steal
Lascivious glances and feelings.
Now I stand before the abyss,
Old, withered and ready to slip
From my blissful mortal coil,
And into the infernal boiling oil.
Alas! I now rue my failure to do
Even a single upright deed!”
Poem released into Public Domain
First published on my blog (with image):
https://purelandsutras.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/memento-mori-twilight-in-paradise/
(In the Middle Ages, tombs and monuments
often bore carvings of skulls or decaying corpses.
The idea was to remind the onlooker that he, too,
was marked for death. These figures were known
as "memento mori".)
Approach me, stranger. Nothing in my story
should startle you. Your flesh has always known it.
I just remind you. I'm Memento Mori.
Yes, this is what awaits you. Don't disown it.
You came in laughing, vital, carefree, easy,
but now your peace is ruined. Go, bemoan it,
and when your Pinot Grigio, risi e bisi
no longer please your palate, and your lover,
so far from comforting you, makes you queasy,
think hard. There's more to life than quail and plover.
Many things may never happen. This one must.
There's less to life than hope, as you'll discover.
For what you are now, that's what I once was. See?
See what I am? It's what you're going to be.
Prompt: Sundial
Stone keeper
of time so frail,
Gazes over gardens,
Poisoned
by pretentious people
Longing to lengthen living.
Time trickling away,
The truth shall stay.
Superior shrine of ages
Shines,
Preserved
past periods
when legends had long lost life.
Casting contorted shadows from its path,
The renewed sun shall laugh; last.
Beings;
bemused, gather, bustle
past, ignoring the Supreme Instrument
that guides us through;
The mysteries of an instance,
Telling the truth of transience.
This monument of mortality
Stands to send shivers up spines,
To implant the silhouette in our minds.
As sparkling sunsets cast the
Longest shadows,
we are momentarily blinded
by a majestic marvel.
Until, fading in regenerative glory,
It depicts a darker dream
a premonition…
Throwing hindsight gloom on the
Everlasting reminders,
Etched onto the graves of all who forget;
Memento Mori
Be mindful of death
Memento Mori
Remember that you are mortal
Memento Mori
Remember that you will die.
Sundials, in ancient times, were placed on graves with the words "memento mori" to
symbolise time running out for mortals.
"supreme instrument" refers to the name of a sundial in India.
Pro Patria Mori
Missouri volunteers bit bullets, watched
as Santa Ana's baggage washed
their brazen hair, hip deep
in the Rio Grande.
The ancient river moved across the land
Like slow drool down a leather cheek.
Bang! Paul Bunyan's balls
rolled down the Great Divide, rattled
across the porcelain sea.
Oh, the girls!
Hair hot and black, Whoopee!
Their tongues as pink as baby fat.
Now tongs drop a hissing crepe
on the defoliated plate. Butter complicates
our fingers, soils the bib.
We crack a claw. Like a crib
at Benin, wary and dull,
the eagle fills his nest with skulls.
Memento mori
Remember death
Tell Him you are sorry,
eat His bread
or it will become you
and take your flesh…
Drink His wine,
take in His blood,
mix it fine
right with your own
Become like Him
and know yourself,
and memento mori
remember death
Memento mori
remember death
Feel His blood
sink into your skin
Know you are loved
and invite Him in
Kneel before His cross,
His body dead,
Share the loss
of mother dear
See Him rise
from that cross again,
and memento mori
remember death
time standing stlll
arrested
moments revealed
in stimulations
of the mind
revealed lluminations
of the past yesterdays
becoming today
tomorrow's postponed
memory
past pictures live again
momento mori in hypereality
as monuments
to past existence
from shadows of transience
sentient touchstones
in memorials of perception
aesthetic sublimations
of immersive
spontaneity
fascinating expectations
in a visual genesis
of suspended animation
still distant
now living again
February 5, 2023 / 2022 Poetry Marathon Qualifiers' FINAL Placement Poetry Contest / Sponsor: Mark Toney
One day, someday, man will awake.
He will find the time of his mistake.
He will turn and cry at his defeat.
On how he’s made this world so bleak.
Yes, he will cry & try to make amends.
Yet what’s done is done & tis the end.
black
brown
purple
red
orange
and
yellow
leaves
scattered
aground
with
some
green
ones
fallen
among
them
Momento Mori
Remember you must die
We must walk thru the valley of the skulls
You can get there by using the proper tools
Everlasting life is for the fools
Old age can't be defied
The grim reaper can't be denied
He's waiting on the other side
Knock on the door and he will reply
Sometimes it up to you to decide
Skin will wrinkle, hair will turn gray
Better pray
We are not here to stay
We will need a walker and a beta blocker
Hopefully we don't have a heart stopper
Momento Mori
Remember you must die
Bones will become fragile and break with ease
Trying to avoid getting a disease
Just waiting for a permanent release
From this painful existence that we call life
Have had a heart attack not once but twice
We are just waiting to rot in the ground
Nothing but dirt that's all around
Silence will be that horrific sound
Momento Mori
Remember you must die
In the coffin we must lie
No need to cry
We need to be set free in able to fly!
END, Truth, Pain, Life
The beauty in the death of life lies in the life of death.
I sigh in my mortal flesh
Of my mortal thoughts and ask
Should I remind you of your true nature
and your pursuit of final free freedom?
Or your unilateral universe burdened with unending pursuits and endless marathons?
I lost the battle in the East before the West
In these tattered, splintered, useless shreds of crown diamonds
Soaked in the eternal muddy pool veiled with ignorance
I have from my graves will learn
Love, Live, Ask, Think
Suffer, Persevere, Listen, Learn
While wailing waves woven with worry of
SAMSARA
I will dodge raindrops before they pour
And challenge myself to a duel with a mirror
Breath, Move, Grave, BEGIN!
Time sada chukay bilu Mori
Gal vich eday kali dori
Time sada chukay bilu Mori
Shayer babu ay munda lahori
Time sada chukay bilu Mori
Baanh vich kara chapal peshori
Time sada chukay bilu Mori
Ay laga phiray chori chori
Time sada chukay bilu Mori
Khuda janda recce de story
Time sada chukay bilu Mori.
Note. Ham kis marz ki dava hain.