Valley of Life | Online Memorial Blog

Despite any negative impressions you may have of the African-American rapper, Tupac Shakur (2Pac) was a poet in his own right. Whether his lyrics were put to music or not, it is clear that Shakur was an artist at his core — a fact that is prominent in all his work. Below, Shakur is said to have penned this poem concerning the prison death of Huey P. Newton, however, the poem’s lyrics can extend far beyond one person alone. Shakur equates the life of an individual to a fallen star, one whose light had potential to brilliantly guide others but was extinguished out of ignorance and hate. It is a perfect tribute to one whose rising and shining life was cut short unjustly. (more…)

The following poem by Dickinson attempts to explore the emotions those of us feel who have lost a loved one. Dickinson likens feelings of bereavement to that of homesickness, as if to say the departed are like a home which we are far away from and cannot get to. Her observations, I think, are well-reasoned. Furthermore, she elaborates on her homesick metaphor in the second stanza by characterizing how we, “who behind”, continue to grieve — by going to the former “Places” of our loved ones’ lives. Sadly, Dickinson’s final words of this poem couldn’t be more true as she poetically states we can only continue searching and visiting those places, for those we lost we can never truly find again in this life. (more…)

The following poem was composed by John McCrae, a doctor serving in the military during wartime. Upon the death of a friend and former student he had been serving with, McCrae scribbled the fifteen lines below during one of his breaks, gazing upon the grave of his friend. The poem was nearly lost when McCrae threw it away, but another soldier sent it off to England to be published. McCrae’s words below, for me, embody the camaraderie of military fellows and the character of death all in the beautiful language and meter of poetry. (more…)

I came across this poem as I was searching for resources to help with holiday grief. The poem references the tragic loss of young children, and how the holiday season only worsens the grief of the parents they’ve left behind. Despite the pain, however, the parents offer those who are hurting a glimmer of hope by alluding to a “mysterious Something” that keeps love in their lives. If you’re someone in particular who deals with grief during this time of year, hopefully this beautifully written poem can lend some comfort. (more…)

Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918) was a professor of divinity at the University of Oxford as well as a canon of Christ Church in Oxford. Holland delivered a sermon (titled “The King of Terrors”) in May of 1910 following the death of King Edward VII in which he explored certain nuances of death. In his discussion of this sermon, Holland wrote what is perhaps his most well-known work, “Death is Nothing at All.” While originally transcribed in paragraph form, Holland’s prose has been re-formatted to augment its natural poetic meter.

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