Funeral Poems & Readings

Elegy On Thyrza

A funeral poem for comfort during unsettling times

Print

Elegy On Thyrza

And thou art dead, as young and fair
 As aught of mortal birth;
 And forms so soft and charms so rare
 Too soon return’d to Earth!
 Though Earth received them in her bed,
 And o’er the spot the crowd may tread
 In carelessness or mirth,
 There is an eye which could not brook
 A moment on that grave to look.
 I will not ask where thou liest low
 Nor gaze upon the spot;
 There flowers and weeds at will may grow
 So I behold them not:
 It is enough for me to prove
 That what I loved and long must love
 Like common earth can rot;
 To me there needs no stone to tell
 ‘Tis Nothing that I loved so well.
 Yet did I love thee to the last,
 As fervently as thou
 Who didst not change through all the past
 And canst not alter now.
 The love where Death has set his seal
 Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,
 Nor falsehood disavow:
 And, what were worse, thou canst not see
 Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.
 The better days of life were ours;
 The worst can be but mine:
 The sun that cheers, the storm that lours
 Shall never more be thine.
 The silence of that dreamless sleep
 I envy now too much to weep;
 Nor need I to repine
 That all those charms have pass’d away
 I might have watch’d through long decay.
 The flower in ripen’d bloom unmatch’d
 Must fall the earliest prey;
 Though by no hand untimely snatch’d,
 The leaves must drop away.
 And yet it were a greater grief
 To watch it withering, leaf by leaf,
 Than see it pluck’d to-day;
 Since earthly eye but ill can bear
 To trace the change from foul to fair.
 I know not if I could have borne
 To see thy beauties fade;
 The night that follow’d such a morn
 Had worn a deeper shade:
 Thy day without a cloud hath past,
 And thou wert lovely to the last,
 Extinguish’d, not decay’d;
 As stars that shoot along the sky
 Shine brightest as they fall from high.
 As once I wept if I could weep,
 My tears might well be shed
 To think I was not near, to keep
 One vigil o’er thy bed:
 To gaze, how fondly! on thy face,
 To fold thee in a faint embrace,
 Uphold thy drooping head;
 And show that love, however vain,
 Nor thou nor I can feel again.
 Yet how much less it were to gain,
 Though thou hast left me free,
 The loveliest things that still remain
 Than thus remember thee!
 The all of thine that cannot die
 Through dark and dread Eternity
 Returns again to me,
 And more thy buried love endears
 Than aught except its living years.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Email
Print

Funeral Shop

Keeping the memory alive. See our high-quality range of funeral products and jewellery including urns, ash pendants, keepsakes, candle holders, bracelets, rings and more.

More Funeral Poems

But Not Forgotten

I think, no matter where you stray, That I shall go with you a way. Though you may wander sweeter lands, You will not soon ...
Read Full Poem →

Your Grief For What You’ve Lost Holds A Mirror

Your grief for what you’ve lost holds a mirror Up to where you’re bravely working. Expecting the worst, you look and instead, Here’s the joyful ...
Read Full Poem →

On Pain

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand ...
Read Full Poem →

For My Daddy

Have you seen my Daddy? I don’t know where he’s gone. Sometimes it hurts so much I can’t seem to carry on.     I ...
Read Full Poem →

Goodbye Dad

It’s never the right time To say goodbye. I will miss you, Dad, And here is why. You taught me so much: To show no ...
Read Full Poem →

In Memory Of My Dad

If I could write a story, It would be the greatest ever told Of a kind and loving father Who had a heart of gold. ...
Read Full Poem →

Heaven’s Rocking Chair

Are there rocking chairs in Heaven where little babies go? Do the angels hold you closely and rock you to and fro? Do they talk ...
Read Full Poem →

To Those I Love

If I should ever leave you whom I love To go along the Silent Way, Grieve not, Nor speak of me with tears, But laugh ...
Read Full Poem →

If I Should Go

If I should go before the rest of you Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone Nor when I’m gone speak in a Sunday ...
Read Full Poem →

Darest Thou Now O Soul

Darest thou now O soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow? ...
Read Full Poem →

Missing Mama

I awake each morning to start a new day, But the pain of losing you never goes away. I go about the things I have ...
Read Full Poem →

Remember Me

Remember me as you pass by As you are now so once was I As I am now so will you be Prepare yourself to ...
Read Full Poem →

How I Feel

Sometimes I just wish I could run away and hide. No matter where I go though, these feelings stay inside. How can I stay here ...
Read Full Poem →

All That Was Her

Where’s she gone, the one we knew, The one we knew and loved, Who knew us all and loved us all – Where now is ...
Read Full Poem →

Missing You, Nan

The years will always roll on by and time will always pass, but every memory I have of you will definitely always last. I like ...
Read Full Poem →