Elegiac Poems | Examples

Echoes of Decrepit Days

As yellow leaves wither in the autumn breeze,
only apathetic thoughts remain 
in this nonchalant existence of 
my diseased body and over the hill mind!

It reminds me a time of agility, 
A time of struggle and celebrations,   
An age when dreams of a better future bloomed,
And leaping up those stairs to pluck the petals of success.

The illusion of youth, believing I would remain the same forever,
My beauty, once admired by the mirror,
My body, that lied about its boundless strength,
And the willpower that upheld my beliefs!

Now, my poor mind, dreadfully distressed,
on the fritz of my worn body parts.
Here I am, at the dusk of my life,
panting and staring at the steep stairs 
called ‘rest of my time’!

I wonder, are there any tears left
to cry over the memories of my vigorous days?
Or, has time swallowed even the sorrow, leaving only silence?

HARMONY AND BELONGING

      At dusk, at the beginning of the night,
        the majestic divine transition;
      the sun undoes its yellow splendor
      The moon presents its silvery glow...
         We here below receive the gifts...
      we feel in harmony with the universe,
       we feel our belonging to the creator!

Silence and Fate

".

A Flowerless Corpse

Snowing-- a hiemal, deathly air
 Their frigid, frostbitten fingers hold nothing
  Uncomfortable silence washes over all there
   A petalless, thorny rose someone is clutching

   Her corpse, defunct, stiff yet motionless
  Skin, once warm brown, now ghastly
 Her grinning face, now emotionless
They thought she would die lastly

Life has limits, death endures eternity
 From her loss, not a single tear was shed
  She, a daughter, never within confraternity
   No one ever cared to hear the words she said

   So she lay, her arms crossed against her chest
  No flowers were dropped upon her frail body
 Instead, the thorny rose stabs her breast
Unhuggable cacti she could embody

On her prickly torso, blood streams
 No one shall wipe liquid and spikes off
  No one shall pay respect, it now seems
   They simply do not really care; they scoff

   So there she’ll lay, unloved and disrespected
  With not blooms and gold, but many a thorn
 Only snow showers her, quite expected--
That no one would dare to mourn.

Emptiness

Do you ever cry for no reason
Try to skip a special day
Forget about the seasons
Get angry, you just may

Do you cherish & love them
Do you hold them dear
So many messages sent
Just wishing they were near

Don't ever lose the will
Give up hope or lose faith
Always tell them how you feel
Show them everyday

If they ever get any chance 
To speak the thoughts of you
Do they give a warning in advance 
Fight & argue til blue

Is it something made up in your head
Someone you love or so close
Someone still alive or dead
Nobody really ever knows

Nobody will try to understand
My feelings of you I hide
Life to me will never be grand
I keep it bottled inside

You are my reason for living life
Why did he take you away
So much pain that i feel
Tears I've cried everyday

When they fall from my eyes 
 Roll slowly down my cheeks
So many times I want to die
Without you I'm incomplete

Not even death will help me heal
Not everything can be replaced
The pain the hurt the "Emptiness" i feel
Only you could ever fill that empty voided space

Void in Perspective

“She spoke to me; expressing desire to rid of her being soon. In her possession lay a bottle of ibuprofen and a dozen sharp razors too. That three slits down her butchered arms is all it really takes; that her life is intolerable and has been burdened through mistake.
…
In a state of panic, she opened up to me about how she was abused; as touch was spread over her innocent figure, even though she refused. How it affected her, and drained her necessity to live; I wanted to yell out, to tell her parents, though she lacks and isn’t resistive.
…
She told me that when she dies, I shouldn’t mourn or cry; that I could use her clothes, borrow her diary and expose. But my laugh lacks its joy, my content being has been destroyed. Though she doesn’t want her parents to know, she has to live therefore my words flow;
…
Please don’t die.”

IN MEMORIAM

How pure the joy in this man's life 
How mighty till the end 
His greatest work - his girl, his boy
Their father and their friend. 

Yet sweeter still their children brought 
Such laughter with their wiles 
And Granddad rocked and shook his head 
His visage wreathed in smiles 

He truly was a friend to all 
His watchword to be kind 
No fancy talk from Yorkshire's son 
Nor malice in his mind 

And steadfast still the marriage made 
His lady and her beau 
Whose life we celebrate today 
Dear heart we'll miss you so. 

Adored, Revered, Unforgettable
Irreplaceable.

To My Future Wife

If ever thou didst love me first,
My heart shall pledge in boundless trust.
If thou bestowed upon me armor bright,
I would be thy golden knight.

If ever thou and I didst entwine,
I’d fight for thee with soul divine.
And if in battle I should fall,
I’d skip death’s grasp to heed thy call.

If ever two were one, then surely we,
If man were loved by wife, then blessed am I, indeed.
If ever joy in wedded bliss was known,
I trust thou shalt find it in our love alone.

For I prize thy love more than all the world’s gold,
Or treasures vast that mortal eyes behold.
If ever vows were made for eternity,
I vow forever, ever, to thee.

Remembering Your Song

Let me hear your love song
Whilst in silence I was long
Let me taste your melody
Like sweet berries on my tongue
Let me hear your love song
Slide your bow across the strings
Move to the wave of my arms
Declare your love song to me
Open wide the pores of my heart
Like baby birds awaiting treats
Fill me with your aching music
With your rapid rhythm beats
Over stones the rising rapture
Of ocean waves rolling through
Frantic climax a memory after
This sweet love song to me, from you.

Fragile

The day i lost the most fragile string on my guitar
I knew i was gonna lose, in my heart
But i kept moving forward thinking i won't cope
Because i didn't wanna lose in fear just for looking through the telescope

And there i see, the melancholy waves
Like beauty that drowns talents with it was he, 
Sharp as a knife, unique as a snowflake, 
Pure as a true love's kiss was he
Was he my plea or my plague?
Fallen was he to save me on his knees
Just nineteen tulips on his reincarnated wake
Just seventeen lilies on this pedestal of waking trees

There was he lingering through air like the essence of lavender
Came to this wanderer wandering in, with words of silence causing hurt
Piercing through the pages is the wanderer wondering wonder
And affection was the wave that came to surrender
The art of alchemy to stitch back the fragile torn pieces of a jocker

Elegy to Alan and Michael

I miss you Michael a really great friend 
When I dropped by your flat you  got me high
Gave me game DVD’s to the end
Brain cancer killed you, so sorry good bye

You were on a morphine drip to kill pain 
Shocking to see the way you were in bed
My visit to you was not done in vain
Drained of life,I was shocked, you did look dead 

Alan you were a great friend to the end
You were great at doing air brush art too
You are Freewheeling Franklin -I commend
He died falling down a stairwell it’s true

Voices

Mom, Dad, I hope you are doing well.
Because honestly I am going through hell.
And I don't expect you to understand.
Because NOBODY else can.
I can't even say that I'm fine.
Because honestly that's another line.
Another line that was drawn.
Because of the fact that I was used as a pawn.
I always had to be tough.
Because I was never enough.
I'll always be misunderstood.
Because my life is something that one never could.

Buried at Sea

Let the sea be my grave and the crest of waves my monument
In statue's peace, faces I to faceless waters that lift me high
As being a whole of me rise free so I may greet the open sea
Then let my final issue bid farewell to you and the life I knew
As the palms of current grace be a song of Psalms sacred pace
As the fluid ebbing flows drift I to the lowest depths unknown
Be that true to I and I alone there be a place where I'll atone
Then I'll prepare that place for me, await death's kiss to eternity.

You would not know, but

You would never know me,
But a theme you were of my dream,
Filled by love to the brim,
Unfulfilled that withered like cream.

You would never know me,
Nor my rose petals in your book
I chanced to have a look,
Loveless that dried up, a lost brook.

You would never know me,
Who once came, buds as to blossom,
Unwelcome who had come,
Who could not but keep utter mum.

You would never know me,
Who came to build castles in fort,
Who just hassles did court
A racehorse who had fallen short.

You would never know me
That famine-like when you had felt,
On prayer who had knelt,
And rain clouds had loosened their belt.

You would never know me,
Nor ever remember, for whom
You had in heart no room,
Who was swept aside with a broom.

You would never know me,
Who once shed for you copious tears,
But returned reverse gears,
To go far from you like lost years.  
__________________________________
Reminiscing |17.02.2024|love

GONE HOME LEFT MY COLD BODY UNDER THE SHEET ON THE COLD DAMP FLOOR-

Attached segregated I touched his warm skin yet
Deceased He was asleep he was non awaken

He was hidden he was asleep under the sheet he slept
 His chest no longer rose I placed the side of my face contemplating

Down by his nose his eyes were shut closed 
No breath his soul a spirit risen he was in death

Detached segregated I touched his cool cold skin yet
No breath his soul a spirit risen he was in death

1/5/24
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2024

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