Long Gravestone Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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[If you’re a glutton for punishment, you
Can find ‘Mad Molly Shaw’ using the poems
Tag at top of screen]
              ****

Mad Molly Shaw wasn’t...

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Grief is so unimaginable painful it cant be explained,
To lose someone you love so much is unfeigned,
Once grief comes knocking at your front door, 
Entering your life, It doesn't plan to stay as a guest
In...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
the gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the...

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There was a man from the town of Shimoda who lived a simple and contented life.
A stonecutter by trade, he would go to the mountain and look at the type of stone that people will...

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Sitting on the rooftop, wavy hair billowing
In the wicked wind, fluttering away like herself
She clasps to her neck the silvery heart-locket
Before looking down from her shady alcove
She has no more time to waste, and, deciding...

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Your walk away into the echoing stillness
Of a crimson autumn sunset
Gently stepping over the leaf-strewn forest floor
As withered leaves under your feet
Bid you soft and gentle adieu.

The wild blossoms by your wayside smile
And lend you...

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She really wanted to see a ghost…ecstatically excited.
She heard this place had plenty, and a spooky atmosphere.
She’d have to pinch herself, ready to cheer…elated.
She’d spend a romantic weekend there with a freaking-out spouse.

He’s a scaredy-cat!...

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In Memoriam Quietly Always Close

Are they whispers, then, settling
So gently upon that slightest breeze wending
     Over the granite crosses and statues of cradling angels,
     Which stand in...

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Just see
How fearlessly
Sunshine is seated
On the  gravestone

And the caring breeze
Whispering to the loneliness
So absolute
Beneath the tombstone

A paleolithic stone
A meaningless silence
Guarding utterly alone
The desiccating non-existence

Here lies she
Neither sad nor happy
Decaying gingerly
Enriching the earth

Are all doors...

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'twas years ago I strolled thru Paris proper
          and came upon Le Pere Lachaise one night -
         ...

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SENSITIVITY

They’re all ignored by us, but they have feelings too :
A black  gravestone  in  New York, down in the world, 
Recalling its halcyon days as a part of 
The impressive strata ...

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My father's abeng blew up my mother's womb
And I was chained there
Nine months in darkness drinking blood
Longing for my resurrection from the tomb
Longing to break the chains
Holding me before my birth to a carnal earth
Longing...

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As I get down on my knees before you and present your ring
It signifies my life starting anew
Knowing that you would take it from me happily agreeing
Creating a new covenant that we both agree to...

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On a headstone in the ground, 
a life's summation can be found:
born and died and little more
marks the end with an underscore.

Before I die I'd like to say
all that happened along the way.
There's a story...

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FICTIONAL EMOTIVE WRITE

Since I was a tiny baby I was brought up by my grandparents and had a very happy childhood. I knew that they were not my real parents but they gave me such...

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I didn't know 
Raindrops
Could taste like
Bad medicine,
Novocaine
Shot
The wrong way
Numbing
Everything 
Down to my
Fingertips-

In the
Inpatient
Care
They hide me
From
Myself,
Drugged up,
Those raindrops
Only heard,
Never touched
As if you can
Recognize
Pain from a
Distance
And learn to
Ignore the
Pitter patter of it,
Just background
Music
To a
Symphony
Of memories
I'm supposed to
Put...

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"Letting Jay’s Fire Light the Way"
(written by Michelle L. LeBlanc  01/04/2023)
Dedicated to my son, Jayden Donald LeBlanc

07/14/2006 - 09/04/202

Today marks 4 months since you passed away
And I want you to know I think of...

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Dear all the ones who have hurt me
Did you enjoy it?
Did you feel joy, while I felt pain?
Did you smile, while I frowned?
Did you laugh, while I cried?
Dear all the ones who have hurt me
You...

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listen to the sound of the rushing world,
wonder what you'd hear if we all slowed down
a minute of an hour a second in a day 
Instead if speeding our lives away
What happens if we listen...

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Her tears lost to rain ...
Dorothea stood in the cold mist,
her habit soaked through, though she cared not.
The gray markers spread out before her like stone soldiers at attention,
as if she were a commander of...

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Repressed, sombre colours
weep a blurry sadness.
Melancholic, metallic hues
bite a frustrated, untouched lip -
silently surrendering
crimson, golden spheres of promise…
They dissolve, shrinking to watery flakes,
melting to a near oblivion.

Lyrics pin hopes on a pointless map,
touching tender triggers
like...

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Standing in the tallest grass
With whispers, phantoms in the wind
I held aloft my one true love's last wish:
   That I come find her by the waves

It was all that I had
By which I...

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Mossy vines served as camouflage for a decaying headstone
This was the first time I’d laid eyes on your final resting place
In front of me stood a grey granite slab covered in emerald moss
Green ivy clung...

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Bring me home, oh Lord, to a land of wonder,
Where I can tell you my triumphs-
For in the glory of this effervescent blunder,
I sit meager and sickly, waiting.

I wait for news, oh Lord and Lady...

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