Poems on Grief

"Will You Remember?" by John Laurence

Oh, blow winds blow,
Ground covered with snow,
Huge waves, thirty feet high,
Stretching their arms to reach the sky,
Winter, so bleak and cold,
Bones aching, grown old,
He turns his head to see
But, nary a tear is shed for he.
Will ere a mourner pass his grave
And say aloud, "He was brave"?
The pain is gone, no more to roam,
Who can recall the name on the stone?
Oh, cold winds how you blow,
Hail and sleet and sheets of snow,
Where has he gone, this man in quest
Of wondrous arms and a soothing breast.

"Poor Old Man" by Jack LaZebnik

Poor old man, he swallowed a cry.
I don't know why he swallowed a cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed some pride.
It puffed and purpled and bled inside.
He drank its dregs to kill the cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed a word.
How absurd! To eat that word.
He downed the word to cover the pride.
He swallowed the pride to kill the cry.
I don't know why he swallowed the cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed a book.
With barely a look he devoured the book,
Contents to index to pass the word
He swallowed the word to cover the pride.
He swallowed the pride to kill the cry.
I don't know why he swallowed the cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed a church.
A gasp and lurch and he gulped a church,
Gospeled it quick to absorb the book.
He swallowed the book to pass the word
He swallowed the word to cover the pride.
He swallowed the pride to kill the cry.
I don't know he swallowed the cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed a god.
Was that at all odd to gorge a god?
He bolted him down to purge the church.
He swallowed the church to absorb the book.
He swallowed the book to pass the word.
He swallowed the word to cover the pride.
He swallowed the pride to kill the cry.
I don't know why he swallowed the cry.
Poor old man, I think he'll die.
Poor old man, he swallowed all source.
He died, of course.

*After the anonymous "Poor old woman, she swallowed a fly…"