Poems……..or…..“Food for thought?”
I have never been ‘into’ poetry all that much, but at times like this it is somehow able to say what I am feeling but unable to express, so here is a small collection that I‘ve found.
This is a poem I found on the net (slightly adapted,) it is dedicated to those ‘well-meaning’ people who say “there are no words….”
Please......
Talk about him
Talk about his lovely cheeky smile
Share your memories of him
Share your sadness that he has gone
Ask me what I loved about him
Tell me what you loved about him
Tell me what he brought to your life
Tell me you will miss him
Say he was handsome
Say you loved him
But please don't tell me there is nothing you can say
But there is another way of looking at it…………
He is Gone
You can shed a tear that he is gone
or you can smile because he has lived
You can close your eyes and pray he'll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all he's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see him
or you can be full of the love you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live for yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember and only that he's gone
or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what he'd want: smile, open your eyes love and go on.
(Anon)
And here is one that puts into words what I’d probably like to say to some people but can’t, tears are always only a blink away and it’s hard to say anything sometimes………
Please
A poem remake by Kaitlyn Sherlock
PLEASE-don't ask me if I'm over it yet?
I'll never "be over it"
PLEASE-don't tell me that he's in a better place.
He isn't here.
PLEASE-don't tell me you know how I feel.
Unless you have lost a child, grandchild, sister, friend or parent.
PLEASE-don't tell me to go on with my life.
I'm still here, you'll notice
PLEASE-don't tell me I'll feel better with time.
Bereavement isn't a condition that "just clears it up"
PLEASE-don't tell me
"At least you had been able to see him grow up for some time"
When would you choose for someone you love to die?
PLEASE-don't tell me
"At least you still have a brother and sister, or other children, or another parent."
I live with the empty space in my heart every day.
PLEASE-know that sometimes there is nothing that will help but a hug.
PLEASE-don't try to say words of wisdom when there probably aren't any.
PLEASE-just say you’re sorry.
PLEASE-just say you remember the good and bad times with him.
PLEASE-just let me talk as much as I want to, when I want to, not when you want me to.
This poem was sent to me through Blake's website..........
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints.
Other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life
when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints,
so I said to the Lord,
"You promised me, Lord, that if I followed You, You would walk with me always.
But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of prints in the sand.
Why, When I have needed You most, You have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied,
"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you."
Here is a poem about the very thing that I now realise Blake had an abundance of, and I have found I have too, and they have helped to keep me going through all of this.........
Cherished Friends
God must have known there would be times
We'd need a word of cheer
Someone to praise a triumph
Or brush away a tear.
He must have known we'd need to share
The joy of "little things"
In order to appreciate
The happiness life brings.
I think he knew our troubled hearts
Would sometimes throb with pain
At trials and misfortunes
Or some goals we can't attain.
He knew we'd need the comfort
Of an understanding heart
To give us strength and courage
To make a fresh, new start.
He knew we'd need companionship
Unselfish...lasting...true,
And so God answered the heart's great need
With CHERISHED FRIENDS....like you.
And finally Blake’s favourite poem……
IF
By Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head
When all about you men are losing theirs
And blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowances for their doubting too.
If you can wait but not be tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good nor talk too wise,
If you can dream but not make dreams your master,
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
And treat those two impostors just the same,
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools,
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss,
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
But the will that says to them, “hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With 60 seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And which is more; you'll be a man, my son.