Most Commented Loss / Death Poems (1,049)

tears slide down our cheeks,
once more lives are taken before their time.
Taken by another,
a crime heinous,
as it is tragic.

Lets look past just the crime
and look for the cause.
Treat the cause not the complaint.
Find a way to make sense of this loss of life,
sense by preventing loss of lives in the future.

A town stunned,

a world weeping in support.

We let down our guards, in these uncertain times.
20 little angels, gentle, meek & mild.
full of such promise, and so full of life.
a vision of innocense, taken & lost in our precious sight.
6 guardian angels, wings opened wide. shielding with love
unafraid to risk life.
teardrops of sorrow, now fill the sky. The rainstorm continues,
for the ones left behind.
A heavy heart we carry, a nation outpours mourns of why?
together as one we falter, please hear our cry....

the tear that was shed
was not the tear that fell
but a glistening slip of tongue
held out to dry
upon an empty berth of grey
knotted to prickly pear
a bone white desert sky

Freedom's Call

We stand in the cold rain
Feeling the intense pain
Watching as our brethern die
Hearing their final cry

Ashes fall all around
Drifting slowly to the ground
Each cinder a rising soul
From an attack so foul

Staring into the sky
The wind blows with a final sigh
Clearing the black smoke
Another tear I choke

Rising from the ashes
Putting on our memorial sashes
Standing proud, standing tall
We hear freedom's call

The world stands as one
We sing our mourning song
Together we are strong
We sing our battle song

Now begins the war on terror
To stamp out the horror
A long road lies ahead
To honor our dead.

Johnny Callison was a star right fielder for the generally hapless Philadelphia Phillies of the 1960's. As a baseball-crazed youngster, I idolized the gifted left-handed slugger. My trusty transistor radio was tuned in to all Phillie game broadcasts during the magical summer evenings, as I followed Johnny C's exploits with rabid fervor. In my eyes, between the foul lines of the National League ballparks, Johnny C could do no wrong. He dramatically ended the 1964 all-star game with a home run & was mobbed at home plate by such legendary players as Willie Mays & Hank Aaron.

As a child, little did I realize that major league baseball players had personal lives, even troubling ones. Johnny's baseball career ended at the relatively young age of 34. I later found out that he did not take care of himself physically & financially. Johnny C went from baseball Adonis to car salesman & bartender with eventual heart problems.

Years later as a middle-aged man, I saw him at a small town baseball card show in central Pennsylvania. The card show attendees paid scant attention to the erstwhile hero. Johnny C autographed a picture that I brought with me of his shining moment mob scene at the '64 all-star game. A wan smile spread across his aging face…..the same face that had poetically graced Topps' bubble gum baseball cards during the 1960's.

The card show meeting was an infinitely sad experience for me. I was struck with how wizened & fragile he looked. The roar of the 60's baseball crowd in his ears stilled forever, like the inevitability of our own lives being stilled forever.

Johnny Callison died in October of 2006 at the relatively young age of 67. My parents have been gone for quite some time. Friends of mine have died tragically young. This is the nature of our existence and though it is sad….the finiteness of life makes it more delicious and more miraculous if we take the time to appreciate the startling poetry of everyday life.

When we look to the past we say
To all my enemies, you will pay

When we look to the past we feel
Never ending rotation, An infinate wheel

A life in the past will only gain
Joy, happiness, veneered with pain

Although my past I cannot change
The future I must re-arrange

Looking back, in total despair
Why did this happen, it is not fair

When we look do the past we think
Forget the past lets raise a drink

We find ourselves again in the wheel
No longer knowing what we feel

Trying to forget
Forgetting to try

To the world we say goodbye

You ran away today,
from the dark, the gloom, the rain,
I saw your face today,
Your heart, your eyes, your pain.

Its hard to speak today,
The darkness is too high,
There`s not much to see today,
The sun is just too shy.

I want to bring you home today,
But grounds is just too far,
I hear so many people say,
You`re on another star.

The living are with me today,
Their smile fill in my heart,
They sing, they laugh, they`re miles away,
And you`re so far a part.

I raise my glass for you today,
With wards of love that past,
The wine release the pain away,
As you`re no longer with us :-(

Dream me dreams of sea and sand
Of waves made for surfing
Of sunny skies and cloudless days
And time for relaxing

Dream me dreams of mountain lakes
With water pure as crystal
Cool, clear, taste so sweet
Removed from civilisation

Dream me dreams of autumn nights
With gentle breezes blowing
Leaves dancing over ground
A symphony of rustles

Dream me dreams of snowy peaks
That fall into valleys
Of snow that falls to blanket earth
And trees with white mantle

Dream me dreams of spring in air
With new growth bursting
Birds nesting sing their songs
Life's cycle is renewing

Dream me dreams of warm bed at night
And loving arms around me
Whispered goodnights and I love you
And smiling face to awake me

Dream me dreams of children's voice
Joyous in their playing
Shouts of laughter from the yard
Asking me to join them

Dream me dreams of quiet nights
Around the table sitting
Sharing dreams, goals to come
A happy family gathering

Dream me dreams of new-born's wail
And watch my grandchild sleeping
Soft, round, and so beautiful
My love is overflowing

Dream me dreams of life and love
Now that I am dying
Precious life I leave behind
And all my beloved

Johnny old boy was a parakeet.
His trophies, the supposed women
he hoodwinked out of underpants, was ever on his lips.
Drained ears listened, laboriously, a thousand times to the once secret
of two hearts, two hearts that alone should clutch hard these clandestine moments.
The Mrs. Green is enviously tied
to her high school sweetheart; she was a gentleman’s dream,
but not this nightmare tale, this delusion shows how limited our eyes are.
Prudence, the good Reverend’s consort
was an assumed standard, but now…

Johnny boy boasted
of dipping wick in Coralline’s kerosene oil
and caused delicate glow on Shiki Futon, dancing glow
to soft music of two waist lines, my Coralline, sweet Coralline.
With careless lips he spilled tales and planted seeds of gossips.
Johnny was, and Coralline too,
and I vision the world for Johnny’s legend, waiting for time to tell my story.

Fooling No-one





You who come to Centennial Park
To visit your dead and buried
You weep and moan over tombstone so proud
Is it because you're remembering

You spend your thousands on monuments grand
And strut around in pretence
See how much I cared for them
This shrine I built according

And yet when lived your loved one
You abused and neglected
Left too late to make amends
Your conscience to be salving

So shed your tears and beat your breast
And show the world you're mourning
Deep inside you know I know
You're really fooling no-one





Centennial Park Revisited


Humble stone at head does stand
And simple is inscription
Beloved father and husband of
And there followed descriptions

This humble grave so loving kept
By this woman and her children
One could see by a single glance
That this was a happy family

A single tear slid down my cheek
The cynic was abated
Not all is lost, there is hope yet
That love might somehow triumph