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Open Poetry #16

My favorite poem ever.

Ven
Member

since 2001-10-01

Posts 102
U.K.

0 posted 2001-10-07 06:17 PM

This is my favorite poem ever.
An anonymous work which featured in a piece on
war poetry.
'Do not stand at my Grave and Weep'
was left in an envelope for his parents by Steven
Cummings, a soldier killed on active service in
Northern Ireland, to be opened in the event of his
death. It provoked an extraordinary response. The
request for copies started coming in almost
immediately and over the following weeks the
demand rose to a total of some thirty thousand.
It was thought at first that the soldier himself had
written it, but this was not the case. Claims were
made for nineteenth century magazines and the
prayers of Navaho Indian priests, but in the end its
origins remain a mystery.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there.
I did not die.

Anon.

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

1 posted 2001-10-07 09:51 PM

Another timeless piece.
PEACE
to all.

Seymour Tabin
Member Empyrean

since 1999-07-07

Posts 31720
Tamarac Fla

2 posted 2001-10-07 10:23 PM

Ven,
I agree it is an excellent write. One I would have been proud to have written.

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