I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

21 March 2015

Life After Death

For Daevid 

I've been reading a vampire book.
I like to pretend
the dead can stay in this world
in their physical forms.

Even if they only emerge at night,
isn't that when we most want them,
in those long, lonely hours?
But I know it's not like that.

Life after death
is a song you wrote,
a piece of music recorded.
Or it's a poem.

Life after death
is the life you lived,
the moments that stay
in other memories. Ours.

It's your voice we hear
so clearly, we look around
and see no-one  yet still
it lingers in the air.

It's your shape in a crowd,
your gesture
made by a stranger,
the set of your head.

And sometimes
it's a dream
so real that we wake
as from a conversation.

It's a message
entering the mind
in your very words,
your intonation.

It's this tree, that star,
the endless ocean,
the wind across the mountain,
the earth we dig.

And it's the surge of love
that shakes us all over,
warms us, enfold us,
brings us to tears grateful tears.


Lining to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #244.

26 comments:

  1. Rosemary, I am so VERY moved by your poem! I love "Life after death is a song you wrote." We all want this, don't we? Life after death. And yes...we see in a dream...and I saw in a dream last night, so I know of what you speak I think. And...yes, there is love,the love. Thank you for featuring Daevid. Really, I am so moved by him and his message & by your poem.

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  2. Very moving and I specially love this part:

    It's this tree, that star,
    the endless ocean,
    the wind across the mountain,
    the earth we dig.

    Love this remembrance with gratitude ~

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  3. Wow, Rosemary, this poem blows me away with its beauty and its truth. I, too, love "life after death is a song you wrote"......we hope our poems will continue to live after us among our kin.......and I was also struck by the lines Grace quoted too. So very beautiful. A stellar gift of a poem. It soars.

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  4. What a beautiful and moving poem. Love how it moves from vampires to the truth of life after death. Wonderful.

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  5. I so love this poem.. The image of how the dead stay on as real as they are flesh and blood (which is really is where it starts with the vampire).. The

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  6. yes, Rosemary, this is the way it is. nice!

    gracias

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  7. Rosemary, your homage to this wonderful man truly & humbly touched my heart. Perhaps, the poet is not dead. He continues to live through the words he generously shared to the world, and the likes of you makes him immortal for sure. Thank you for writing this beautiful poem.

    - ksm

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  8. What a wonderful poem and tribute to those we have loved in our lives and a part of them is with us always.

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  9. A beautiful and moving tribute...

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  10. I think you have captured perfectly how the world keeps moving and yet reminds us that someone we cared for is still present if no longer with us...perhaps life never really ends so long as we have memories to keep alive...

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  11. Life after death... the living will always have the memories of their loved ones. An honour, a tribute. The poem is very poignant in the sense we all experience loss at least once in our lifetime...

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  12. Others have mentioned lines and images that linger - I agree with them all..and add that it is the totality of these fragments, flashes and flickers that gather to create and continue life after death and poetry that lasts...

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  13. Oh Rosemary! This poem resonates with me and brings me tears after a moment of all my living dead swooping by to say hi! I will keep it forever to remind me that the intangible can be spoken ever more deeply. Thank you.

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  14. Life after death
    is the life you lived,
    the moments that stay
    in other memories...

    Profound words!

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  15. What a wonderful poem, I like the part they only emerge at night when you need them most. After a long draining day that comfort is most needed.

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  16. A beautiful thought,

    'It's this tree, that star,
    the endless ocean,
    the wind across the mountain,
    the earth we dig.'

    I can relate today.

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  17. Oh! This was so touching! Moved me to tears... inspired!

    www.adashofsunny.com

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  18. Loved this, Rosemary!! So much truth. Sometimes we do need the comfort at night when we think too much. I think the tears are great reminders of how much we love. That's something good to think of. At least I like to think so :)

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  19. What wonderfully thoughtful and understanding comments from you all! Thank you.

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  20. Such specific descriptions can only be made through empirical evidence, and every one of your observations, familiar to you, triggering memories of moments shared, rejuvenates those experiences, so that they are everlasting in life.

    So true are your words, and so consoling.

    Poppy

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  21. What a fine poem. Thank you. As someone already said, the dead swoop by, visiting us. We are grateful.

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  22. Oh, Rosemary, this resonates so powerfully for me right now in my life. And it is so very true...when we have lost someone we loved deeply and powerfully, death is no match for what draws us to them, them to us, and we see them everywhere still and life goes on after death in ways that brings them to our awareness tangibly. This is such a lovely poem.

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  23. Ah, Rosemary...it is very evocative...it was painful to read....gratefulness for love, love by itself - what can be better.... 'Life after death
    is the life you lived,' ~ crying with you....hugs

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  24. A sorrow song that talks of hope.

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