THIS BLOG HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN. FUTURE POEMS SHALL BE WRITTEN AT "TALES OF HER AND BY HER". Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for visiting! xx

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Do not stand at my grave and weep.


" Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star-shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die."

Mary Frye, who had never written any poetry, but the plight of a young German Jewish woman, Margaret Schwarzkopf, who was staying with her and her husband, inspired the poem. She wrote it down on a brown paper shopping bag. 
Margaret Schwarzkopf had been concerned about her mother, who was ill in Germany, but she had been warned not to return home because of increasing anti-Semitic unrest. When her mother died, the heartbroken young woman told Frye that she never had the chance to “stand by my mother’s grave and shed a tear”. Frye found herself composing a piece of verse on a brown paper shopping bag. Later she said that the words “just came to her” and expressed what she felt about life and death.


The poem was introduced to many in Britain when it was read by the father of a soldier killed by a bomb in Northern Ireland. The soldier's father read the poem on BBC radio in 1995 in remembrance of his son, having been left it in an envelope addressed 'To all my loved ones' in his personal effects. 

What beauty! Sometimes such people come out of relatively nowhere and remind us why we are called humans. Humane. Creative. Super intelligent.

And the context, the words used, the feelings conveyed in the poem, I don't even have to say anything. 
Gobsmacked.

XoXo,
Ni.

4 comments:

  1. What a sad yet inspiring story.
    I believe that poetry comen to man either in euphoria or deep sorrow.

    ❤Not Just My Allegories❤

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe that as well!
      And this poem literally BLEW me away!
      :] xx

      Delete
  2. Very touching and inspiring poem....I loved the way it is rhymed...

    And b.t.w your blog background is 'Wow!!'...I ♥ starry backgrounds <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I swear. Broke my heart, but made me smile as well.. Such beauty! :]

      Thanks a lot. :D xx

      Delete

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