Funeral Poems & Readings

How We Survive

A funeral poem for comfort during unsettling times

Print

How We Survive

If we are fortunate,

we are given a warning.

If not,

there is only the sudden horror,

the wrench of being torn apart;

of being reminded

that nothing is permanent,

not even the ones we love,

the ones our lives revolve around.

Life is a fragile affair.

We are all dancing

on the edge of a precipice,

a dizzying cliff so high

we can’t see the bottom.

One by one,

we lose those we love most

into the dark ravine.

So we must cherish them

without reservation.

Now.

Today.

This minute.

We will lose them

or they will lose us

someday.

This is certain.

There is no time for bickering.

And their loss

will leave a great pit in our hearts;

a pit we struggle to avoid

during the day

and fall into at night.

Some,

unable to accept this loss,

unable to determine

the worth of life without them,

jump into that black pit

spiritually or physically,

hoping to find them there.

And some survive

the shock,

the denial,

the horror,

the bargaining,

the barren, empty aching,

the unanswered prayers,

the sleepless nights

when their breath is crushed

under the weight of silence

and all that it means.

Somehow, some survive all that and,

like a flower opening after a storm,

they slowly begin to remember

the one they lost

in a different way…

The laughter,

the irrepressible spirit,

the generous heart,

the way their smile made them feel,

the encouragement they gave

even as their own dreams were dying.

And in time, they fill the pit

with other memories

the only memories that really matter.

We will still cry.

We will always cry.

But with loving reflection

more than hopeless longing.

And that is how we survive.

That is how the story should end.

That is how they would want it to be.

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.

Sourced From

More Funeral Poems

The Candle

A candle burns bright in a window of gold A beacon for life’s weary heart Promising beauty and splendours untold Of a world that now ...
Read Full Poem →

The Fight

My body’s cold, lips are blue. Why did I do this because of you? I feel the earth below me like a pillow under my ...
Read Full Poem →

Missing You

Still I hear those voices From a time so long ago. I see so many faces But not the one I love and know. I ...
Read Full Poem →

Little Gidding (from Four Quartets)

We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for ...
Read Full Poem →

I Love You, Son

My dear son, I miss you so much. It keeps hurting; I can’t stop crying. My eyes always search for you in the sky. My ...
Read Full Poem →

The Strength You Gave Me

They tell me it’s amazing how I’ve stayed so strong, but they don’t see how I cry when I hear your song. They see the ...
Read Full Poem →

My Lost Love

I have only just lost you; the pain is hard to bear. Do I have to go through life knowing you’re not there? Please, someone ...
Read Full Poem →

Our Memories Build A Special Bridge

When loved ones have to part To help us feel were with them still And soothe a grieving heart They span the years and warm ...
Read Full Poem →

Elegy

O snatch’d away in beauty’s bloom!On thee shall press no ponderous tomb;But on thy turf shall roses rearTheir leaves, the earliest of the year,And the wild ...
Read Full Poem →

If I Could

If I could travel back in time I’d travel to your side Back to the day I said ‘I do’ And you made me your ...
Read Full Poem →

Remember Me

To the living, I am gone, To the sorrowful, I will never return, To the angry, I was cheated, But to the happy, I am ...
Read Full Poem →

You Mattered To Me

You lived your life thinking that no one cared. You thought you were all alone, your heart feeling tattered. I am here to tell you ...
Read Full Poem →

Afterglow

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one. I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I’d like ...
Read Full Poem →

The Loss Of A Loved One

The loss of a loved one is so hard to face. You just want to hide, go somewhere and escape! But death is something we ...
Read Full Poem →

The Last Invocation

At the last, tenderly, From the walls of the powerful fortress‘d house, From the clasp of the knitted locks, from the keep of the well-closed ...
Read Full Poem →