You did not die.....

This was a poem I wrote as a reply to a famous poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye and which is recited at memorial services. I have posted the original poem after mine.

Amaryllis (Chinese brush painting)

YOU DID NOT DIE....

I do not haunt your grave to weep

for salty tears are only eyes-deep.

The fragrances of your eternal breeze,

waft along, soaking fathomless peace.

The teasing rays of your endless sun

kindle darkest corners of an unhappy bosom.

The starlit night, the buds on boughs

flower memories of your undying vows…

Promises lost to oblivion,

orphaned, without an union..

Every single breath, every single beat

when not for you, is one onerous feat!

What awakening at dawn?

For I have never slept night or morn!

Not a single recall remains unwept,

not a lonely second passes unkept...

Yet, I won’t stand by your grave and cry;

For in my memories you can never die!!

And the original:

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 a thousand winds that blow. 
I am the diamond glints on snow. 
I am the sunlight on ripened grain. 
I am the gentle autumn rain. 
When you awaken in the morning's hush 
I am the swift uplifting rush 
Of quiet birds in circled flight. 
I am the soft stars that shine at night. 
Do not stand at my grave and cry; 
I am not there. I did not die. 

-  Mary Elizabeth Frye.