#mortality poems on Hello Poetry

Etherwise Dec 2024

When I die, don’t look for me in the stars,
Look for me in my words.
Look for me in the books that line the shelves,
The letter “R” and the letter “E—"
And in every word you see them,
Please think of me.

Look for me where I’ve walked
And where I’ve never been.
Look for me in sadness, and I’ll be there...
But look for me in joy, too, won’t you?
Since they’re both so beautiful,
And both so true.

When I die, come look for me here;
Words won’t just disappear.

#mortality #remembrance #legacy

Bonnabelle Reed Dec 2024

wind chill

i love being outside
because i forget
what is inside
even just being
outside of a freeway
is much more freeing
than indoors' lack of leeway
the ground beneath my feet
textured with imperfectness
makes me okay to meet
a theoretical highness
live oaks are ironic
because of their name
they aren't really chronic
and i'm just the same
a grackle cries out
atop a power line
what are you talking about?
this forest isn't mine
a blackberry grows
during winter's reign
despite everything i know
i sink into the rain
a cat pounces upon
a small white rodent
i turn the laptop on
and write a poetic statement
cumulonimbus forms
shocking the ocean
one is forlorn
the other sits again
a bridge is constructed
connecting the valley
a heart is abstracted
another dash to the tally
a language created
means of expression
soil is sated
from decomposition
every beautiful thing
must be transient
it's making my ears ring
terra, stop the embarrassment

an ode to nature in the wake of existential awareness.

#nature #existential #newpoet #reflection #mortality #identity

dead poet Dec 2024

moment of truth

ready or not,
here i come.
count your blessings,
find the sum -
of all the tears
that’re due to flow
from a corner of your heart
you didn’t even know
existed before;
now open the door;
embrace your mortality -
let it purge your core
of all the notions
that vexed your spirit, and,
twisted your mind, well -
not anymore.

i’ve come to show you
the only way out;
‘take it or leave it’ -
i’m leaving with you,
or without.
have you no clue
how profound the disease is? -
it’ll take a while
to pick up the broken pieces.

sleep shall be but a
fleeting dream.
oh yes,
it’s a wicked scheme.
i’ve come to search your soul
like a sleuth;

i’m your fateful reckoning -
your ******* moment of truth.

#truth #reckoning #mortality #soul #darkness #healing #poetryisnotdead #writingcommunity #rhymescheme #poeticjustice

Reuben F Nov 2024

Deathbed

Bed is a vehicle
Without steer or veering wheel,
No two wings or a keel
Make a bed typical.

Coitus, Dream and Day
Inside a bottomless trunk,
You drive it when you’re drunk
Or any other way.

An eye-opener
And a commuting teacher,
Your bed's not in Future
Nor is it Past’s inner.

On a one-way road
And a carpeted sanctum,
Your bed holds you welcome
'Til your eyes become sewed.

#death #mortality #life #fear #depression #anxiety #existentialism #realism

Matthew Bright Oct 2024

From Collected Essays of the Invisible

He rose early , before dawn .
Sleep shutters to a stop ,
frame by frame
white flaming ,
burning through the algebra of living celluloid .
☆
Dreamwalk through columned portico ,
entwined of hibiscus and passion flower ,
the meadow beyond
pulsating in glowing golden light ,
beckoned him to look for signs .
☆
2
Every now and every then ,
waves of information ,
pouring from divers celestial spheres ,
swept across the gardened landscape ,
causing timelines to excite
and visions to dance before
him .
☆
One day he would leave the meadow ,
though only partially explored ,
and return to the Everything
and all the other things ,
not remembered or revealed ,
having been shown
the Light and the Dark ,
and blending courage with tears .

#eternity #transformation #mystical #spiritual #mortality

Jack Groundhog Oct 2024

The river

I’m in a wide deep river
that flows onwards to the sea.
The wind gusts at my back
in spite of the lee.

The bleak banks are far away,
the murky waters are swift,
my feet don’t reach the river’s bed,
I’m floating lonely and adrift.

Once every so often
I bump against a big rock
that my hands will firmly clasp
to stop the tick and the tock —

but the rock is slick
with the slime of passing time
and I slip on and on
to the sunset light sublime.

Look: All around are scattered people
failing too to stem the flow
as the tireless river hurries on
towards the sunset’s vesper glow.

Then I start to grasp
that to fight it is to fail
and I must be one with the river,
not see it as my jail.

And now, and now, and now:
As my thoughts flow consoled,
I float as one with clockwork water…
each bobbing second turns into gold.

Musing on the passage of time and learning to accept growing old.

#aging #time #acceptance #zen #mortality #death