This isn't great poetry per se; it doesn't have the emotional or linguisitc depth of great writers on loss like John Donne or Dylan Thomas. Yet it's a powerful poem nonetheless, precisely because of that simplicity. It's timeless, and in some way place-less too, meaningful to anyone who has ever looked at nature. To me, in fact, it reads more like hymn lyrics than like a modern lyric poem. In addition to the printed version, I've given you a version of the poem sung by Welsh classical crossover artist Katherine Jenkins on her Living A Dream
CD. I don't always like the result when poems are set to music; often, the language alone is more effective. But because this poem is so simple in its cadences and hymn-like in its diction, it seems to fit naturally with melody, and just as naturally with Jenkin's classical voice. 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 in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.
No comments:
Post a Comment