The Death Rattle
THE DEATH RATTLE!
For days on end I heard that groan,
As if something was stuck in her
throat as she moaned;
A constant croaking in a subdued low
tone!
The doctor called it the ‘death rattle’, -
When the body begins to lament for the
departing soul!
Since all our earthly coming together,
Must one day surely end in departure!
That has been the general law of nature!
Then suddenly one day, during the early
hours of the morn,
All groans had ceased, as her body lay
cold,
It was an hour before the break of dawn!
My mother’s soul had passed on ……,
She must have seen a better dawn!
-Raj Nandy
New Delhi
27 Sep 08
(I had lost my mother a year prior to my
retirement from the I. A. F.)
Related quotes
Shake Me And I Rattle
I was driving to work
when I heard this curious rattle.
For the life of me,
I couldn’t figure it out
where the rattle was coming from.
Every pothole that I hit the rattle was loud,
but on a smooth road, there was no rattle at all.
Finally, I parked the car and got out
and the rattle continued like before.
It didn’t take me long to realise
just where the rattle was coming from.
I was the one who was rattling
from all the pills I’m on.
So the next time we meet,
shake me gently
because I rattle a little bit.
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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To Meet Again
Your mother died
a peaceful death
no heart attack
no fight
for breath
no death rattle
into the night
just a sudden
departure
like a switched out light
all her long life
concluding in this
a gentle going
death's soft kiss
a daughter
at her mother's
bedside
holding her hand
her dementia
needed Teddy
held there
at the end
your mother
died suddenly
to an unexpected
sleep and rest
all worries
and anxieties
gone away
all hoping
and believing
to meet again
some day.
poem by Terry Collett
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Death is a divorce
Death is a divorce.
The soul and the body are separated.
The soul escapes; the body decays.
Who is the cause: the soul or the body?
‘It is the body’, accuses the soul,
‘As it went unfit.’ ‘It is the soul’
Reprimands the body, ‘which found me stale.’
Who is the male: the soul or the body?
‘Male is the body’ complains the soul,
‘In whose home I entered as a bride.’
‘Male is the soul’ retorts the body,
‘Who deserted me to seek the other.’
Death is the divorce,
Where both separate.
11.02.2005
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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A battle between soul and death
My body has become a battle field,
Battle, a fierce battle, I cried in pain,
As death comes and fights to pull the soul,
Nothing happens as death has no gain.
I have been a heart and gastric patient,
My body burns with a wound of heart,
And my heart burns with it's own light,
But soul and death wrestle part to part.
A great war took place in my body,
Death violently ordered to the soul to surrender,
But soul is not ready to surrender then war began,
Many souls and deaths saw the war and wonder.
What about my body? I shouted at them,
My body has been burning since long,
Listening this, death laughed and soul hit it,
Soul told me that “death is going to do you wrong”.
You go away otherwise the death harms you,
Soul strongly pushed to the death and saved me,
I forever pray to God to give strength to my soul,
I am very thankful to my soul to protect me like a bee.
poem by INDIA Mazid S Kazi
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To My Mom
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of 'Mother, '
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
poem by Ricky Baker
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Darkest Hour Is Just Before Down
(ralph stanley)
The sun is slowly sinkin
The days almost gone
Still darkness falls around us
And we must journey on
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The narrow way leads home
Lay down your soul at jesus feet
The darkest hour is just before dawn
Like a shepherd out on the mountain
A-watchin the sheep down below
Hes coming back to claim us
Will you be ready to go
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The narrow way leads home
Lay down your soul
Let jesus in
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The darkest hour is just before dawn
song performed by by Emmylou Harris
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To My Mother
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
poem by Edgar Allan Poe
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The Bride-Soul
When will that day dawn, Mother;
When the One I took birth for
Holds me to His heart with deathless love?
I long for the bliss of divine union.
I long to lose my body, mind, and soul
And become one with my husband.
When will that day dawn, Mother?
Husband, fulfil now the longing I have had
Since before the universe was made.
Enter me completely and release me.
In terrible lonely years without You
I yearn and yearn for You.
I spend sleepless nights hunting for You,
Gazing into darkness after You,
With unblinking hopeless eyes.
When will that day dawn, Mother?
When will my Lord hold me to His heart?
My empty bed, like a hungry tigress,
Devours me whenever I try to sleep.
Listen to your slave's prayer -
Come and put out this blaze of agony
That consumes my soul and body.
When will He hold me to His heart?
When will that day dawn, Mother?
Kabir sings, "If I ever meet You, my Beloved,
I'll cling to you so fiercely You melt into me;
I'll sing from inside You songs of union,
World-dissolving songs of Eternal Bliss."
Mesalliance
I am troubled to-night with a curious pain;
It is not of the flesh, it is not of the brain,
Nor yet of a heart that is breaking:
But down still deeper, and out of sight—
In the place where the soul and the body unite—
There lies the scat of the aching.
They have been lovers in days gone by;
But the soul is fickle, and longs to fly
From the fettering mesalliance:
And she tears at the bonds which are binding her so,
And pleads with the body to let her go,
But he will not yield compliance.
For the body loves, as he loved in the past,
When he wedded the soul; and he holds her fast,
And swears that he will not loose her;
That he will keep her and hide her away
For ever and ever and for a day
From the arms of Death, the seducer.
Ah! this is the strife that is wearying me—
The strife 'twixt a soul that would be free
And a body that will not let her.
And I say to my soul, 'Be calm, and wait;
For I tell ye truly that soon or late
Ye surely shall drop each fetter.'
And I say to the body, 'Be kind, I pray;
For the soul is not of thy mortal clay,
But is formed in spirit fashion.'
And still through the hours of the solemn night
I can hear my sad soul's plea for flight,
And my body's reply of passion.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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At Dawn
At dawn…
The time when I feel all alone
When everybody is asleep
And are still catching some zzzz’s
At dawn…
The hour when the place is quiet
When I’m almost dumb and deaf
And silence is all I can hear
At dawn…
The break when my mind’s unloaded
When my body is free from pains
And my heart is filled with wonder
At dawn…
Each day with a date with God
I spend this quiet time in grace
Thanking Him for the night that passed
At dawn…
I pray to our Almighty Lord above
Praising Him for who He is-
An awesome and wonderful God
At dawn…
I plead for His help so I could do
All the tasks that I have to make
At dawn, and for the rest of the day
poem by Rose de Ramar
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No individual soul
Which- the soul or body-
Is the cause of one
To be holy or lowly?
Which- the soul or the body-
Is the cause for the king
To down and the traitor to crown?
Which- the soul or the body-
Is the seat of genes
That transmits features?
Soul and body are co-born
Ever since when life was born.
At no stage, be birth, embryo,
Zygote or gametes that fuse,
Was the life born for the soul
To enter the body at birth,
And part at death.
Death is no more than
A death of a twig of the tree.
28.12.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Dawn
Dawn for the rich, the artistic and the wise,
Is beauty splashed on canvas of the skies,
The brushes being the clouds that float the blue,
Dipped in the breeze for paint, and washed by dew.
But dawn to those who bathe the night in tears,
Squeeze sustenance from hard unyielding years,
Is full of strange imaginings and fears.
The dawn renews the terror of the day
Where harassing uncertainties hold sway;
And pain held in surcease through brief hours of rest
Roars up its head in its unceasing quest
To wear out body, brain and mind and soul
Till death is a resolve, and death a goal.
For those life holds no beauty, dawn no light,
For day is hopeless, dawn is struck with blight.
poem by Gladys Casely-Hayford
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Mother and I wept
Here is the incidence, very true of its kind and, has taken place in my life. In one place mother wept for me and in the second place I wept.Both has no bearing on each other but since it was between mother and son, I thought of it putting it to a general public for view.
I joined Indian Air Force much to the dislike of whole family. My brother was living just 120 km. away from my native place and I was just informed to report to the recruiting office for medical check up and tests. When I reached office, and much to my dismay, it was very brief and we were given clearance and instructed to report to the training centre at Bangalore.
After completion of training at Bangalore, I got posting at capital city of India, New Delhi. After brief stay at Delhi, I was given first leave to visit home town. Mother was so happy to see me alive as if I was never coming back alive to the village. But as days drew nearer and I was to go back to my unit, mother became restless and all the times she used to shed tears in the corner. One I was sleeping in the after noon and suddenly I felt that some wet thing was falling on my forehead. I got up to see that mother was whipping, and when asked, she replied that how I will be doing in the defense set up since no body had gone from our family so far. I too became emotional but still regained the composure and counseled mother. Such was deep love from mother to a son.
Mother died while I was in service. I couldn’t remain present at the funeral ceremony because it almost took 24 hours to reach home and it was custom that dead body was not to be kept beyond certain hours. She was cremated but had unfulfilled desire in her mind. So in the night, she appeared in the dream and asked promise from me not to do at least one thing in whole life. I asked 'why, mom, you want such promise' from me. She replied that as such I was not smoking in my life, so you take vow not to smoke throughout life. Even at the end of the days also, mother remembered that I was non-smoker. I wept continuously and there was no body to wipe my tears.
Both the incidences have no bearing on each other but certain things you realize when person is no more with you. It is pure love and affection that bonds you to gather and you never miss those moments when get time and memory cross your mind.
In today’s time, such warmth and feeling has disappeared altogether. We live in the changed scenario but in my belief still there may be similar cases taking place but not coming to the light.
“Mom, I love you” can only be my tributary words
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal
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Let Us Live
Life is more like life,
Death is a culture of the throat
And its power is quenching,
The soul masters the body when on arrival
Of death.
Ghosts are in death, and many are with us
To talk to about politics and governing the work
Of our professions.
These provide reputations, physical prowess,
And long distinctions
Always because of the ghost-like quality.
Let them disappear into the dawn,
Let’s laugh at the deadly living we are appalled by,
Letting merriment into our lives with flesh.
Life is more than death when faced with ourselves.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Sonnet- Preserve Thy Soul, O Man
Protect 0 Man, thy soul from earthly stains;
God's breath of life is immortal in form;
Death takes it across supernatural lanes,
Untouched by the Satanic Tempter- Worm.
Preserve its divine nature without fail;
Released by Death, it should unite with God;
And live forever, Divine One to hail;
Alas, if sinful, goes to Hell by rod.
Let body' needs not tarnish soul's image;
Let sinful thoughts not weaken its nature;
Let it accrue grace, turning man to sage;
Let the ‘sheep’ graze then, the divine pasture.
Our soul is eternal, ethereal;
Our body, mind are just ephemeral.
poem by John Celes
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The Supreme Soul
In awakeness,
I was there,
My mind was there,
My body was there,
In my dreams,
I was there,
My mind was there,
But my body was lost.
In my deep sleep,
I was there,
But I lost the mind,
So do I lost my body.
In my state beyond,
In the depth of my sleep,
I never sleep,
Nor did I awake,
It was a state,
Of no movement,
No dreams,
And no thinking!
I was without knowledge,
But I was the knowledge,
I was the illumination,
Of the supreme soul,
With whom I parted
On my birth.
I lost my memory,
Of my parent soul
But for the active
Five senses
Of my body,
The gift of the supreme soul!
I attained him,
When I lost the senses,
When I lost the earthly bond
When I lost the turbulations,
Of the earthly passions!
In union with him
The supreme soul
I lost my self,
And my soul,
Melted and immersed
With the supreme soul!
poem by Vadakkumpurath Ramesan
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Life and Death, How Ironic
Life, it described my Mother
Life, she was the image
Life, she was healthy
Life, she loved every day
Life, you saw it in her eyes
Life, you heard it in her voice
Life, how ironic it could be
Death, the impossible
Death, too somber a thought for her
Death, she would live a long, long time before it would confront her
Death, sickness maybe, but there is always a cure
Death, not even a thought in the doctor’s mind
Death, it now replaced life
Life and death, my mother passed away with a look of peace on her face
She died knowing that she lived every moment to the fullest.
poem by Janice Karp
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Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn
(ralph stanley)
The sun is slowly sinkin'
The day's almost gone
Still darkness falls around us
And we must journey on
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The narrow way leads home
Lay down your soul at jesus' feet
The darkest hour is just before dawn
Like a shepherd out on the mountain
A-watchin' the sheep down below
He's coming back to claim us
Will you be ready to go
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The narrow way leads home
Lay down your soul
Let jesus in
The darkest hour is just before dawn
The darkest hour is just before dawn
song performed by by Emmylou Harris
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Angel of death, please take me now
I just want to forget what
happend to me, so recently
I just want my body to be
free, angel of death, take
my soul from me.
I dont want this pain,
so Im gonna end it in vain
let the angel of death make
my body cold
write my soul on paper,
and let it be sold.
I dont want to die old,
I want to go now,
please angel of death take me
now, somehow, let my body
be free.
Please, angel of death, take me.
poem by Nicole Buckland
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Between This Body And This Soul
my body thirsts for water
my soul thirsts for another
my soul immersed my soul entwined
my body grows my soul static as a thought
i shift from one channel to another
body to soul, soul to body,
the body's nature to sin
the soul's quest to heaven
God is in between.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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