Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep (Today's Epitaph)

This poem, which is a comforting epitaph, is inscribed on the granite tombstone placed for Joann T. Parks about 1992. The author of the sonnet was Mary Elizabeth (Clark) Frye, and she wrote it in 1932.

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's rain
When you waken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight
I am the soft star that shines at night
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there; I did not die.

Joann rests at Chastain Memorial Cemetery in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia.

Comments

PJ said…

I love this poem and I love how it's actually carved into the headstone. I've been to many funerals where this has been read out as it's just so perfect.

October 14, 2016 at 6:33 AM

S. Lincecum said…

I so agree, Pamela. It's very fitting. I love the tie to nature, both physical and emotional.

October 14, 2016 at 10:01 PM

Magda said…

This is a nice find ! Just lost an old friend and this one popped up in my feedly.

October 17, 2016 at 6:41 AM

Darla M Sands said…

It is a lovely poem.

October 21, 2016 at 2:36 PM

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