After Their Death

Funeral poem by Judith Pordon, ideal for paying tribute to a loved one as a funeral reading, eulogy or bereavement quote.

You might be covered
By eyelids closed
Over your whole being,
Or reach with desperation
For something alive
To hold onto.
Your fingertips will hide
In a fist. No more palms
Open to life.
Humbled, the very ground
Will seem so large. Someday
The earth will own you.
Or you see there’s no time
To waste, and plow
Into previously feared goals.
Try to be patient
If it takes you years
To return.
This is the exit from Eden,
When you have chosen life
While wanting to die.
This is the fall that gives
Wisdom, perspective, gratefulness.
It is worth the crawl, back to life.

Share:

More Poems

She Is Gone (He Is Gone)

Popular funeral poem based on a short verse by David Harkins. An uplifting poem about being grateful for a loved one’s life.

Untitled Poem To A Lost Love

A moving funeral poem by Thomas Moore about mourning for a lost loved one, suitable for religious or non-religious services.

Fidele

Funeral poem taken from William Shakespeare’s play ‘Cymbeline’, about a loved one finding peace in the afterlife.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

The most famous of the ‘metaphysical’ poets, John Donne wrote this poem in 1611, after leaving his wife to travel to the continent. The poem