Poems for a Suicide

We have had quite a number of requests for a poem or some lines to say following a funeral. It has been very tough to find something suitable, butafter scouring the second hand bookshops I think that I may have found a verse may work.

It was written by John Clare in Northampton Asylum. I think that John had his fair share of problems. I have ammended a couple of the words to make it more suitable.

—
I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows?
My life forsakes me, like a memory lost.
I am the self-consumer of my woes;
They rise and vanish, an oblivious host,
Shadows of life, whose very soul is lost.
And yet I am–I live–though I am tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dream,
Where there is neither sense of life, nor joys,
But the huge shipwreck of my own esteem
And all that ‘s dear. Even those I loved the best
Are strange–nay, they are stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man has never trod
For scenes where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie,
The grass below; above, the vaulted sky.

Afternoon in February
by Longfellow

The day is ending,
The night is descending;
The marsh is frozen,
The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes
The red sun flashes
On village windows
That glimmer red.

The snow recommences;
The buried fences
Mark no longer
The road o’er the plain;

While through the meadows,
Like fearful shadows,
Slowly passes
A funeral train.

The bell is pealing,
And every feeling
Within me responds
To the dismal knell;

Shadows are trailing,
My heart is bewailing
And tolling within
Like a funeral bell.

Let Me Go
Unknown

We’ve known lots of pleasure,
At times endured pain,
We’ve lived in the sunshine
And walked in the rain.

But now we’re separated
And for a time apart,
But I am not alone-
You’re forever in my heart.

Death always seems so sudden,
And it is always sure,
But what is oft’ forgotten-
It is not without a cure.

[You may wish to remove this next verse]
I’m walking now with someone,
And I know He’ll always stay,
I know He’s walking with you too,
Giving comfort everyday.

There may be times you miss me,
I sort of hope you do,
But smile when you think of me,
For I’ll be waiting for you.

Now there’s many things for you to do,
And lots of ways to grow,
So get busy, be happy, and live your life,
Miss me, but let me go.