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.
Funeral Poems & Readings
Elegy On Thyrza
A funeral poem for comfort during unsettling times
Print
Elegy On Thyrza
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
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 →
The Triumph Of Death
No longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Give warning to the world, that I am ...
Read Full Poem →
My Dad
We miss your face; you were taken too soon. Your beaming smile that lit up the room, Them cheeky dimples and twinkle in your eye. ...
Read Full Poem →
Life
The World’s a bubble, and the Life of Man Less than a span: In his conception wretched, from the womb So to the tomb; Curst ...
Read Full Poem →
When I Am Dead, My Dearest
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: With showers ...
Read Full Poem →
Dear God, Please Take Care Of My Little Girl
Dear God, please take care of my little girl, The one with big eyes and soft brown curls. She was special, as you should know. ...
Read Full Poem →
My Memory Library
Imagine if I was given one moment, just a single slice of my past. I could hold it close forever, and that moment would always ...
Read Full Poem →
All Nature Has A Feeling
All nature has a feeling: woods, fields, brooks Are life eternal: and in silence they Speak happiness beyond the reach of books; There’s nothing mortal ...
Read Full Poem →
Grandpa
Dear Grandpa, I don’t want you to worry about me. This was the plan from the very first day. God told me to trust him, ...
Read Full Poem →
The Star
A light went out on Earth for me The day we said goodbye And on that day a star was born, The brightest in the ...
Read Full Poem →
My Mother
Look up to the sky. Now tell me what you see. A cloud, the moon, possibly the sun. Many answers there will be. When I ...
Read Full Poem →
Light A Candle
light a candle, see it glow, watch it dance, when you feel low, think of me, think of light, I’ll always be here, day or ...
Read Full Poem →
Farewell My Friends
Farewell My Friends It was beautiful As long as it lasted The journey of my life. I have no regrets Whatsoever said The pain I’ll ...
Read Full Poem →
Good-bye, My Fancy!
Good-bye my Fancy! Farewell dear mate, dear love! I‘m going away, I know not where, Or to what fortune, or whether I may ever see ...
Read Full Poem →
Death Is Nothing At All
Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as ...
Read Full Poem →