Death
Death wavers above our heads
like the sword of Damocles,
waiting for the moment
when we are unaware
to strike and cut us down.
We know not when nor want to know.
Better, it come in the silence of the night
when we will not be aware
then we will not fight
until the inevitable end.
Just rest our head in sleep
the long cold sleep of death.
25 January 2011
Author’s Note:
I wrote this dark piece on hearing the passing of a second friend within a week.
poem by David Harris
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Forever Sleep
You drifted into that forever sleep
away from the harshness of this world.
You now abide where angels sing
in the comfort of our lord.
Friends you left behind miss you
and will only be reunited with you
when their time comes along.
You earned a rest
beyond the sunset of your days.
Those you left behind smile
as they recall the humour in you.
A trait that will be passed down
as long as there are ears to listen.
Rest now my friend you earned it,
let the blanket of love from our lord
surround you always in his kingdom
in your forever sleep.
23 January 2011
Author’s Note:
This poem was written as a tribute to a friend of forty years,
who passed away on January 10 2011.
poem by David Harris
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Silent Dreams
Oh to have silence come into my sleep
Just for a few small hours.
But no the noisy words disrupt me
Like bees buzzing ‘round the flowers.
Small phrases get caught in my head
And become pictures that I see.
And I know they are only in my dreams
But they repeat continuously.
Take leave I say and allow me rest.
Please find another one
To keep awake with words and sound
Before the morning sun/
What lies beyond these countless nights?
Is there silence anywhere?
I've heard that beyond unconsciousness
That telepathy makes us aware.
And so am I in search of death you ask?
No that's not what I now seek.
Just a little silent sleep at night
Even if it's just for a week.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Death is sleep
The night does not weep
That it is about to die
When the Sun is about to rise,
Unaware of its rebirth though.
In my case I weep
That I am about to die
When the time comes
Despite the faith in rebirth.
Death is a long sleep.
Sleep is a short death.
Memory lives after the sleep
Memory dies after the death
01.04.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Let The Night Sleep
Let the night sleep
Sleep for ever deep
With the night I sleep
Beyond the world to peep
Universe will sleep
Plants and trees
Birds and bees
Stars and moon
To sleep very soon!
Fruits and flowers
Joy with showers
Will sleep with me and the night
Not to keep the life very tight!
No dawn of the day
Right upto the dooms day!
Sleep permanent
In the world impermanent
I'll sleep without light
My agonies will sleep
My worries will sleep
My pains will sleep
My sins will sleep!
While in sleep
I am pure
I am peace
I am noble!
While my body is asleep
Awake my soul I keep
Sleep akin to death
Death akin to sleep in mirth?
Let the night sleep
Sleep for ever deep
With night I sleep
Sleep to eternity
Soul to merge in Divinity!
poem by Subbaraman N V
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Sleep
Sometimes we fear to sleep
in case we don’t wake up again.
We fight the sleep
our bodies so desperately need
to rejuvenate itself again.
We fight because we fear death,
but death comes to us all.
The question of when we will never know.
It is no use fighting it,
as it will come when it is ready to take us away.
In the meantime, we should
enjoy every minute of everyday.
Tomorrows will look after themselves
as tomorrows always do.
So if your body needs sleep.
Just let it have it and sleep, sleep, sleep.
23 June 2008
poem by David Harris
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Elusive Sleep
Sleep evades me in the night
I listen to sounds make thoughts
which play upon my mind
in the dark of the room I lay
waiting for serenity to come
time passes slowly
as though held imperfect
its warm, too warm for comfort
and too cold beyond the bed sheet
the day has been long, the body aches
still, still sleep evades me
and those sounds, each shadow
play upon the mind more and more
restless and anxious for sleep
to rest, to dream, to be at peace
the elusive sleep in the night
where thoughts consume me
poem by Matthew Holloway
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Disingenuousness
Here lies another box for nature,
Carbon ready;
Black to eyes down here,
Where death is at its job.
Up there you’ll hear a rhythmic sob
Or two from living yet-to-dies –
A humming lacrimoso –
It all but cleans the eyes:
Forget it –
The dismal show of grief –
Life is only chemistry –
Our stay is only brief.
It’s we who hype it up!
Diaphragms jerk again;
The jet monotone of hearses
Feeds the disingenuousness
Of undertakers –
They seem to stare at something up ahead –
For them, it’s in the blood,
To taxi off the dead.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011
The March of Death
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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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It's Death Again
It's Death again - He's always there -
Watching, waiting - e'er the stare!
Every time I look behind
Or reach to pull the window blind,
I catch a glimpse of grubby hood -
A little clue to where he stood;
The glint of light that caught the scythe.
Perhaps if I could pay a tithe…
But O! no use, he'll never go.
The adamant phantom; don't you know
He will but wait until it's time
For me to hear His fateful chime? -
The toll that claims my destiny,
To Hail: 'You're next, it has to be…'
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
The Reign of Death
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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Sleepy Mom
Mom is waking in a room
Her heart and soul full of gloom,
Now in the hall of the house,
Not everything is guiet as a mouse
She can't sleep silence, nor do anything with the children
She is sad and crying in sadness, silence;
The pain in her heart violent.
She is weak from walking the hell all night
Wanting to sleep in silence with all her might
She can't do anything but sleep with her children in bed,
Silence; time and time again.
Until you know what you can do and can't do,
Your children won't be safe without you
You can keep them away from the big bad wolf
You can keep a watch on them from any danger,
whether from a friend or from a stranger,
You can sleep in silence now,
Be happy and take a bow,
Protect me from the dark or from a bomb,
you have down your job.
poem by Keith Scott
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Our Heav'nly Race
Just two, two choices we’ve got on this planet:
life, life and death, death;
life on earth, eternal life in heav’n above,
and death here on earth, eternal death in hell below.
But questions, questions ask we ourselves below:
‘How do we live here on this planet? ’
‘what’s our rewards aft’r death? ’
Death is inevitable gentle young man:
plants die, animals die, we too must die
and sleep in Mr. Death’s grave;
we must die in flesh, not on soul returning to God.
Isaiah holiness, let’s accept
that our death may be our sweet pillow for rest
or we due to second death eternal in hell!
poem by Eche Ononukwe
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Interactive Poetry
when i wake up this morning
sleep is still sleeping
and i slip out of the blanket
not to disturb sleep which
is still soundly snoring
last night we did not pretend
that we were two dead people
sleep was tightly curled upon itself
its arms were not around me
and i could not remember anymore
exactly
whatever happened
to me
or us
if there ever be
this morning
sleep is dead
and i survive
to meet another face of death
in the kitchen
and also in the rest room
and also outside the house
into the road and in the office
where i am working
there are so many faces of death
in my own world
and i am not the loyal subject of sleep
which is death's younger sister
neither am i a friend of death
nor its foe
for out of this everyday encounter
death becomes nothing
but another furniture in the hall
another rock in the garden
part of the numerous leaves in the air
one of those many ' its'
that does not
really disturb me anymore
tonight i will sleep with sleep again
(it is dead and unburied)
i do not name sleep for you
since i too does not know about its true details
or identity
its name its age
when it was born
though i know exactly when it really died
as i have already told you
and what totally is it exactly
the whole truth about its snores and sleep walks and talks
its secrets inside those thick blankets
for in truth in this journey
we sleep with sleep
most of the time
(do i hear ninety percent approving?)
we do not know much of it anyway
or frankly
much less
perhaps
at any rate
(and this may have bored you
to an ending that
bears no significance to your present work)
how can we be interested with such an ordinary matter
that occurs
every minute of the hour?
and what is it that is really worth
writing and
understanding in this world
that does not listen?
(do i hear 95% of you screaming?)
poem by Sebastian Soberania
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I Met Death
I was waiting, watching one day
When Death came along, looking
As if there was something he wanted to say
His hair was as black as the sky at night
And in the wind it blew like smoke
He had come a long way in his worn black cloak
So I invited him in and I did say
If you’d like to you can stay
But Death said:
“I’m only passing through
For the clock’s hands they say
They are ticking the seconds of my life away”
And I answered,
Thinking I’d misunderstood
As Death’s dark black eye gleamed under his dark black hood
“If your Death, how can you die? ”
You see, Death didn’t seem the kind to lie.
And Death wasn’t phased at all,
“No longer Death I may become,
Or so says He if I don’t complete
The most horrible, horrible, feat.
“The most horrible feat? ”
I had to say
Could it be so horrible,
That Death couldn’t say?
“Death, ” said Death, “is the horrible feat.”
And then he faded away, like smoke into the blue, blue sky
But I think, before he left, I might have seen him cry.
I had never in my life, seen Death again
Until the night I stood outside in the rain
When he said, “I’m sorry miss, but this is good bye.”
And I found out what it’s like to die.
So we went, and parted, to each our own way,
But one more time I want to heard Death say, “I’m sorry miss, -“
Marking the end of the day
poem by Jinny Tikanus
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Death and I
When death comes
I’ll need not love –
Consumed,
No wreath or dove
Could offer me salvation,
Not when I’m no more.
A weathered stone will bear my name –
Identity of once a being
Living out existence in
A world of risk, and never seeing
Sense of why we’re here.
My genes will die away thro’ child –
Hue of eyes and hair, the way of thought,
Will quickly dim with generation –
Bow to future dominance –
Memories of provenance
Resigned to curious few.
When death comes
I’ll need not grace
Below; no grieving face
Will call my resurrection,
Not when I’m at ground –
Death and I so bound.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011
D eath Crawl
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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Death, Inevitable Death
Death, inevitable Death.
So now You come to show Your world,
Hence the blackened cloak – unfurled.
And peering down upon my form
– Bereft of pity – Your eyes of storm.
Death, inexorable Death.
‘When? ’ The only question out of Thee.
My dream retorts 'But ne’er for me! ’
But now awake, I bid you so –
My giving tears cry ‘Where to go? ’
Death, adamant Death.
You cast Your spell and guide me 'way,
For life and I have had our day.
And what of me? I prey You, tell!
Be glorious in Heaven or gnarled in Hell?
Death, ineluctable Death.
Oh wiry ghoul, I'm here to follow –
I leave my body grey and shallow.
‘Come! ’ You bid in thund’ring tones,
‘Beg farewell to shattered bones.’
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
Death
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Death
poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Battleground
Ah
Finally the curtains are here
Dark dusty coffee shade
To blot out the searing summer sun
To blend with the moss green
Abstract walls
In a room
Where our bed stands
A centre piece
A stage
For the battles we fight
You always win
And I the meek
Retreat into the dusk and the dawn
Where shadows hide the bruises
Till the silence heals the battle scars
And I come out with renewed vengeance
To fight again
Fr what I think is mine
A trophy I thought I deserved
in an epic I had pre written
to fight till death
for losing is beyond comprehension
but you always win
and stand proud
amidst the carnage
of a heart that only knew to love you
but now I grow tired
with every wave of fight
from one confusing day
to long drawn out sleepless night
and amidst the glint of swords
in a moment of surreal silence
I see that this might all be in vain
That you can’t fight a war for peace
I can’t claim a prize without my name
And maybe it’s time to let go
To realize
In a moment of desolation
That love
Is not for everyone
poem by Dinesh Perera
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Death, My Friend
Death, my friend - so good to see you!
Stand aloft and view my soul!
I have to say you’re looking frightful -
Bony chum, you affable ghoul.
Death, my friend, so charmed I’m sure!
State your case and tell me straight -
Am I worthy of reward, so
Venture I to Heaven’s Gate?
Death, my friend, a new acquaintance!
You're always welcome in my home -
Though the stare from empty sockets
Indicates to Hell we roam!
Death, my friend - my bosom buddy.
My! your finger points at me!
Be you tired of my frivolity?
Aha, I see - Oblivion, we!
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Suzanne & The Jewels
Suzanne was the jewel keeper
In a word she stole all the jewels
And she took them to a foreign land
Which was strictly against all the rules
And she wore them all proudly
Like a tiara crown on her head
She slept with them at night
Suzanne and the jewels in a bed
Chorus:
Suzanne and her jewels
Livin on the edge of a friend
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?
Suzanne lived down by the river
The fountain of youth did flow
And she played on a steel guitar
And the drifters did come and theyd go
And shed put on her crown
And shed sing them a song
And some drifters would stay here the night
But they never did stay long
Chorus:
Suzanne and her jewels
Livin on the edge of a friend
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?
This girl flew on the wind
She wrote her own name in the stars
Just goes to show sometimes you win
No matter how crazy you are
But a thief can come knocking
Even with blood on the door
And drink up your fountain of youth
And throw your jewels and your crown on the floor
Chorus:
Suzanne and her jewels
Livin on the edge of a friend
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?
Suzanne and her jewels
Livin on the edge of a friend
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown off your head?
song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One moment one time
One moment one time Yes one moment one time Yesterday one moment one time six feet down they are buried It was just like yesterday people smiled, people laughed, people played together under one roof, under one umbrella No one knew death would come calling fast No one knew death would keep knocking the heart of men like a whirlwind All we ever knew was that death kept knocking persistently They crash landed from Dana air into the world of great beyond, where they will rest in peace from the hassles of this wicked world All that hoped for the best in life crash landed on the 3rd of June 2012 for no fault of theirs Crash! Crash! ! Crash! ! ! the dead have gone home so soon Blood bath have taken over the airspace in split of seconds washing away the top soil The time ticks The day counts fast The death kept calling seconds by seconds on a daily basis The night is very short as we wake and sleep Death is dangerous as it takes us unaware without our notice at all Those alive cried , tears kept rolling down like balls of abundant rain Death has done its worst and we can do nothing We have wept and wept out our eyes from the socket, one moment one time
poem by Olayemi Ayo
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Song Of Nature
the sky says,
sleep, sleep
i will protect you......
air says,
sleep, sleep
i will be only for you
she says,
please don't sleep
i will miss you before death
but always i ignore her and
go for a long sleep.........
poem by Silent Sound
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Macabre Beauty
They say death is the end,
But I don't think so,
Death's an old friend,
Waiting for us to go,
Away from this realm,
When our job's over,
The world seems a dream,
That keeps on going forever.
They say death is dark,
As dark as coal,
Extinguishing life's spark,
Dragging into it's hole,
Little do they realize,
That this is nature's law,
So, why're they surprised,
For it's like this since long ago?
They consider death macabre,
For it's the final end,
Like a sharpened saber,
Cutting the delicate thread,
But though it may seem,
That death's always macabre,
But it does itself redeem,
By bringing a new future.
Strangely, I find myself at peace,
When I am not at ease,
I request death, oh please!
Have me from my bonds release!
Silently, death does it's duty,
Therein lies it's macabre beauty.
poem by Suvankar Sen
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