Grief support groups, condolence advice, funeral etiquette and more

Poetry for Grief and Mourning

Poems about death and dying, love and loss, grieving and healing

When someone you love dies, the grief you feel can be overwhelming. Some find writing poetry or keeping a journal to be a helpful way to express emotions while grieving. Sometimes, just reading a beautiful poem or elegy can bring comfort. Here are a few poems on death, dying and the grief that follows that may provide inspiration, comfort or catharsis as you mourn. Please feel free to share your own original poems of grief, loss, death, dying in the comments section below.

1914, V. the Soldier

The Angel of Patience

Annabel Lee

April Rain Song

The bustle in the house

The Christian's Goodnight

Consolation

Crossing the Bar

The Day is Done

Dulce et Decorum Est

Epitaph

Genealogy

The House of Life: 73. The Choice, III

The Little White Hearse

Nature

The Old Familiar Faces

Only a Dad

Rain on a Grave

A Reminiscence

The Sailor's Grave at Cloo-ose, V.I.

Spirits of the Dead

There Will Come Soft Rains

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

Vigil Strange I Kept on a Field One Night

Warm Summer Sun

Images via Flickr Creative Commons. Top: Pankaj Kaushal. Bottom: alessandro silipo.

Recommend

2 members like this

‹ Previous
1
2
Next ›

Comment

You need to be a member of LegacyConnect to add comments!

Join LegacyConnect

Comment by Karen W on March 8, 2014 at 10:27am: You are my sun and my moon. How will I find my way without you?
I will spend my days longing for the reunion of our heart and the recoupling of our soul, for surely we have shared each in this life and without you, I am incomplete.

Comment by LAURA FONTES on February 2, 2014 at 2:31pm: THANKS SO MUCH EVERY ONE . YOU ARE GOOD PEOPLE AN I AM GLAD FOR THAT .

Comment by LAURA FONTES on February 2, 2014 at 2:30pm: I AM TRY NG TO JUST BE ME DAY BY DAY AT TIMES MY MIND GETS SO CONFUSED , I JUST WANT TO SCREAM ! not sure any one understands that at all .

Comment by LAURA FONTES on February 2, 2014 at 2:25pm: SUPER BOWL SUNDAY , MY SON WOULD OF LIKE WATCHING THE GAME , NEVER HAD A TEAM WOULD JUST LIKE DIFFERENT PLAYERS . I SEE MY SON AN HE TELLS ME MOTHER I AM OKAY I AM WITH YOU AN MELISSA ALWAYS .

Comment by LAURA FONTES on February 2, 2014 at 2:22pm: My son was a wonderful person and had a smile just like me . thanks for your words , its going to take me time an time , this was my SON who was someone close to me an closer . BLESSINGS TO ALL !

Comment by LAURA FONTES on February 2, 2014 at 2:18pm: thanks, to all who have left a comment an there nice stories

Comment by Janelle on February 2, 2014 at 11:31am: When I got up and tried to leave, mom would hold on tight to my flannel sleeve.
Even when she'd be asleep and I wouldn't make a single peep, she knew if I left the room, and she call out " will you be back soon ?" She seemed to always want me there, by the bed or near her chair. I'm getting used to all of this, and it feels good to be so missed .I know soon that she'll have to go, I hope she knows I loved her so, and I pray that she won't have to leave, and she'll hold on tight to my flannel sleeve.

Comment by Ken on January 18, 2014 at 11:39pm: CHOICES

There’s a time for living, and there’s a time for dying.
There’s a time for laughing and there’s a time for crying.
As I sit here writing these words, something else , to me, occurred.
Is it time, while you’re still living, for you to do a little forgiving?
You have a choice………
Forgive the ones that made you cry or damn them til the day you die.
And, laugh all the way to the grave.

Comment by LAURA FONTES on January 18, 2014 at 8:22pm: very nice words

Comment by Ken on November 22, 2013 at 2:10pm: DESPAIR

A lonely, old man just sits in his chair, wondering...what is he doing there?

He has no ambition, and he's got no drive, just what is it that keeps him alive?

To write down an idea or maybe a thought, and think to himself....

Is this all I've got?

Comment by Denise on March 18, 2013 at 12:46pm: My Angel Forever

My love our time was short

Our first kiss was but yesterday

My world quickly torn apart

You were my Angel, in every way

We laughed and cried

We were challenged at times

You were always strong

My Angel…you didn’t even know

Oh how you loved life

That soft smile and warm laughter

Oh how you were loved

Your comforting words many sought after

I remember my Angel…I will never forget

My big strong man…taken too soon

We were just beginning…

Why God…I asked looking up at moon

Deep down I knew…for you always were

My Angel then…and…My Angel Forever

Fly My Angel …now your free

Spread your wings….

One day I will fly with thee

By Denise L McConnell

For my husband

Comment by Nikki Holmes on January 27, 2013 at 6:30am

Comment by Nikki Holmes on January 27, 2013 at 6:29am

Comment by Nikki Holmes on January 27, 2013 at 6:29am

Comment by Nikki Holmes on January 27, 2013 at 6:28am

Comment by Ken on November 30, 2012 at 2:12am: The Day You Died

The day you died I cried,

And I am crying still.

Until the day that I die,

I suppose I always will.

The tears just come and fill my eyes,

And never seem to stop,

I am not ashamed. I just let them drop.

Who is to say a man can’t cry and express

just what he’s thinking?

I’d rather cry, then wipe my eyes,

Than go back to slothful drinking.

Comment by Vicki on November 28, 2012 at 1:07pm: Missing Grandpa!

Missing Grandpa at birth, although still alive. Missing Grandpa at first word, now gone. Missing Grandpa at first steps, still no sight of him. Missing Grandpa on the first day of school. Missing Grandpa through the toughest time of my life for a 5yr old. Missing Grandpa during highschool. Soon I will missing Grandpa on my graduation day, or my special day of becoming someones bride, and the celebration of my first child. On these days I'll miss him, that wonderful man he was. His absence I'll have to deal with on my own time, like I have everyday for the past 16yrs, and so on. Only, Missing Grandpa!

~Vicki H.

Comment by Ken on November 15, 2012 at 5:38pm: COME BACK TO SEE

Come back to see me, I've got so much to say,
Little things I never told you before you went away.
Come back to see me, we've got so much to do,
I'd really like to hold you cuz I'm still in love with you.
Come back to see me, even if only in my dreams,
You left me only yesterday or that's the way it seems.
Come back to see me, I miss you more than you could know,
And, I can't figure out just why you had to go.
Come back to see me, that's what I want the most,
I won't be afraid, I'll know that you're a ghost.
Come back to see me, and maybe I'll stop crying,
I still can't get over the fact that you were dying.

Comment by Ken on November 15, 2012 at 4:05pm: I had a dream

I had a dream last night, I dreamt of someone dead. And, when I woke this morning, it was still there in my head. Then I tried to return to sleep, wanting to dream on. But, like my love one who had passed on, the dream I had was forever gone.

Comment by Michael Gelb on November 8, 2012 at 12:14pm: Prints of Love

By (Joeysguy) Michael A Gelb

Loving someone from the start

Leaves an imprint in your heart

That imprint of someone you love

In your mind of someone who’s now up above

Maybe something that they left behind

Brings back memories in your mind

That someone who passed and left a mark

An imprint we can even see in the dark

Maybe just something we found

It might just be a foot print on the ground

The memories of time that has passed by

It might make you tear up and even cry

Just a hand print on a wall

Might be a thought that you recall

From your memories of a time you knew

They always have meaning to you

Looking at a picture of your love and you

Leaving an imprint of that day you said I do

Could some imprints be from above

As a kiss to someone they love