Funeral Epitaph Poems

Here lies little Bill –
He took such a bad spill…
It happened at his still,
Making liquor was his thrill

Here lies gentle Jim –
His heart was never...

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Bill Dyer

Here lies the crisp remains of Chef Bill Dyer
Tumbled head first into a deep fat fryer.

Carlos De Rava

The statue on this grave is of...

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Common Wisdom is not really either. For example ..
1. Let the past bury the past

Can not be done that way.
Use funeral parlors, or celebrate a...

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Below the vault of this cerulean sky

In this solitary grave, let me lie

In joy I lived and in joy I die

And wish to see no...

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Our dearest Betty White, whose credits are long
Her sharp wit was always like a risque' song
She warmed our hearts every step of the way.
Her final...

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Think not of me ascending
To some celestial space
Some Heaven never-ending
Spending eternity in God’s grace.

Think not of me transcending
This universe, material
To some vapid, unoffending
Paradise ethereal.

Rather think...

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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...

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams

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

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams I

Wall, we're astonished that you haven't collapsed,
since you're holding up verses so prolapsed!
Ancient Roman graffiti, translation by Michael R. Burch

You...

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Final Lullaby
by Michael R. Burch

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

Sleep peacefully—for now your suffering’s over.

Sleep peacefully—immune to all distress,
like pebbles unaware of raging waves.

Sleep peacefully—like...

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PLATO EPIGRAM TRANSLATIONS

These epitaphs and other epigrams have been ascribed to Plato...

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
But go with good fortune: I...

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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...

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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...

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Last Anthem
by Michael R. Burch

for victims of the coronavirus

Where you have gone are the shadows falling...
does memory pale
like a fossil in shale
...do you not hear...

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Elegy for a little girl, lost
by Michael R. Burch

. . . qui laetificat juventutem meam . . .

She was the joy of my youth,
and now...

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