Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Subject: DEATH - CHILDREN
Matches Found: 832

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` ...THE LIGHT THAT CANNOT FADE...', by WILLIAM DANIEL EHRHART    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Suzie, you picked a hell of a time
Last Line: And every time I think of you, %you're young
Alternate Author Name(s): Ehrhart, W. D.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975


A BIT OF HEAVEN, by GERTRUDE D. JOHNSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Child of the slums, how happy
Last Line: Is a child—or a tramp—or a beast.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson, G. Gertrude
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


A BOTANICAL TROPE, by WILLIAM MEREDITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Elliptical regrets figure the nights
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Morris
Subject(s): Automobile Accidents; Death - Children; Death - Babies


A CHILD, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "o hades, death's inexorable king"
Last Line: When sorrow broods above the home he left?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A CHILD'S GRACE AT FLORENCE; A.A.E.C., by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Of english blood, of tuscan birth
Last Line: For death's annunciation.'
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A CHILD'S GRAVE, by ALEXANDER LOUIS FRASER    Poem Text                    
First Line: I linger by this grass-grown mound
Last Line: And love this plot shall keep.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


A CHRYSALIS, by MARY EMILY NEELEY BRADLEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My little madchen found one day
Last Line: Was but the radiant creature's flight!
Subject(s): Butterflies; Death - Children; Death - Babies


A COUP D'ETAT; AN INCIDENT IN THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 4, 1851, by VICTOR MARIE HUGO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The child received two bullets in the brain
Last Line: Must sew the shrouds of children eight years old.
Subject(s): Death - Children; France; Grandparents; Guns; Murder; Napoleon Iii (1808-1873); War; Death - Babies; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


A DEAD BABY, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Little soul, for such brief space
Last Line: So, our first dream, our first hope -- is over.
Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A DEAD CHILD, by LUCIAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Five years alone had vanished since my birth
Last Line: I learnt but little of life's sins and grief.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lucianus
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A FUNERAL POEM ON THE DEATH OF C.E., AN INFANT OF 12 MONTHS, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Through airy roads he wings his instant flight
Last Line: In pleasures without measure, without end.
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Variant Title(s): A Poem On The Death Of Charles Eliot, Aged 12 Months
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Death - Children; Love - Loss Of; Mortality; Death - Babies


A GHOST STORY, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her life was plain, her death
Subject(s): Death - Children; Roses; Death - Babies


A GRAVE, by WINIFRED LUCAS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Through every hour man lives on earth, his grave
Last Line: Time to his courses held your childish feet.
Alternate Author Name(s): Le Bailly, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Life; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


A HUSBAND'S VOICE, by FRANK WILLIAM HOLSLAG    Poem Text                    
First Line: My heart-and your heart
Last Line: Since baby's gone away.
Subject(s): Absence; Death - Children; Hearts; Love; Separation; Isolation; Death - Babies


A HYMN OF SLEEP, by CHARLES WHITWORTH WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Another day is dying
Last Line: And are asleep on jesu's breast.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cayzer, Charles
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; Graves; Religion; Graveyards; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Theology


A LITTLE BOY LOST, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE, by WILLIAM BLAKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nought loves another as itself
Last Line: Are such thing done on albion's shore?
Subject(s): Bible; Death - Children; Mythology; Sacrifices; Death - Babies


A MOTHER'S LAMENT [FOR THE DEATH OF HER SON], by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fate gave the word, the arrow sped
Last Line: With him I love, at rest!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A PICTURE AT NEWSTEAD, by MATTHEW ARNOLD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What made my heart, at newstead, fullest swell?
Last Line: Was woe than byron's woe more tragic far.
Subject(s): Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824); Death - Children; Paintings & Painters; Poetry & Poets; Byron, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron; Death - Babies


A PRAYER, by ESTHER REINECKE    Poem Text                    
First Line: .....And today
Last Line: His loneliness away. God, grant me this.
Subject(s): Babies; Death; Death - Children; God; Mothers; Parents; Prayer; Infants; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Parenthood


A PRAYER FOR A VERY NEW ANGEL, by VIOLET ALLEYN STOREY    Poem Text                    
First Line: God, god, be lenient her first night there
Last Line: When she wakes up, do things for her my way!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


A RAINY DAY, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All day, against the window pane
Last Line: For days clear shining after rain.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Pain; Tears; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Suffering; Misery


A REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF A CHILD IN LONDON, by DYLAN THOMAS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Never until the mankind making
Subject(s): Air Warfare; Death - Children; Fire; Innocence; Mourning; World War Ii; Death - Babies; Bereavement; Second World War


A STONE IN ST. PAUL'S GRAVEYARD (NEW YORK), by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here, where enormous shadows creep
Last Line: He was john jones, son of john jones.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hall, Galway
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; St. Paul's Catherdral (new York City); Graveyards; Death - Babies


A SUPERSTITION REVISITED, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: While on the lavender by the door
Last Line: Defied eternity.
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING, by JOHN DONNE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As virtuous men pass mildly away
Last Line: And makes me end, where I begun.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love; Love - Marital; Marriage; Mourning; Death - Babies; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Bereavement


ABANDONMENT, by WESLEY MCNAIR    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Climbing on top of him and breathing
Last Line: But the face and breathes oh %breathes into the mouth which does not breathe back
Subject(s): Death - Children; Dreams


ABER STATIONS: STATIO PRIMA, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why do I make so much of aber fall?
Last Line: That's all, that's all.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ABER STATIONS: STATIO SECUNDA, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Just listen to the blackbird -- what a note
Last Line: I hope he won't go mad.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Blackbirds; Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


ABER STATIONS: STATIO TERTIA, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The stream is very sweet
Last Line: That sent a shiver to my heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ABORTION, by DIANA DER-HOVANESSIAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The names they picked for you
Subject(s): Death - Children


ABORTION POEM, by MARGARET HONTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Now I'll read my abortion poem
Subject(s): Death - Children


ABSENCE, by HARRY TRAVIS RHODES    Poem Text                    
First Line: Little brown eyes, little clown eyes
Last Line: In the land god made like thee!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love; Death - Babies


ACCOMODATION, by NICOLE MONTAGUE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember
Last Line: When the winter wind took priority %over one last hug %with tony
Subject(s): Death - Children


AD ASTRA: 158, by CHARLES WHITWORTH WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Except like little children ye believe
Last Line: Faith that shall open wide the gates of heaven!
Alternate Author Name(s): Cayzer, Charles
Subject(s): Death - Children; God; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


ADDRESS TO MRS. WM. ANDERSON, ON THE DEATH OF HER ONLY SON, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We weep with those who weep:' I sympathize
Last Line: Shall blossom in the paradise of god.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; God; Mothers; Mothers & Sons; Mourning; Sons; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Bereavement


AFTER DEATH, by GINA BERGAMINO    Poem Source                    
First Line: For 3 days
Last Line: I left one light %on so you could %see
Subject(s): Death - Children


AFTER DEATH, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I heard the front door close
Last Line: Was a kind of steady weeping.
Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Death - Children; Family Life; Mourning; Half-brothers; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Relatives; Bereavement


AFTER FIFTY YEARS, by NAOMI MYLES    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stood on a crowded pier high above the hudson
Last Line: Sometimes the look of you leaps %from an idle page: a certain cast of eye, %a tenderness of mouth
Subject(s): Death - Children


AFTER THE BABY DIED, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The first week it was
Last Line: Eventually I've got to get a routine going %living in this hell
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


AFTER THE FALL, by MEGAN LAUBER    Poem Source                    
First Line: They found the people who
Last Line: We stroke the sod-- %sprouting its first scalpels of grass--%as if it were your hair
Subject(s): Death - Children


AFTER THE LAST LESSON, by EFFIE WALLER SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How wonderful he seems to me
Last Line: Stands clear before our eyes.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Teaching & Teachers; Death - Babies


AFTER WORDS, by BARRI ARMITAGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: All these days of our daughter's burying
Last Line: A brambled path, chattering like schoolgirls, %knowing we had a lead
Subject(s): Death - Children


AGING FATHER LOSES HIS CHILDREN, by ROBERT PETERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A hitherto placid river stirred
Last Line: Off sohre, near the beach, %where he breathed
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Fathers; Survival


ALAS, FATHER, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Mother and I have spoken the word
Subject(s): Death - Children; Igede (african People)


ALEXANDER J. FRASER, ESQ., by HUMBERT WOLFE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, sad was the lot of the child we loved dearly
Last Line: The morrow that springs from the sleep of the tomb.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Grief; Life; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Sorrow; Sadness


ALMYRA WILMARTH; 3 YRS. 7 MOS. 4 DAYS, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A suffering little child has come unto thee
Last Line: And in your bosom of love have comfort and rest
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Mothers And Daughters; Women


AMY'S GARDEN, by JO CARNEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: A stone
Last Line: Pulsing with the ceaseless thrum %until the next visitation
Subject(s): Death - Children


AN ELEGY ON AN INFANT, by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, shepherds, on this grave your flourets
Last Line: In safety listens to the distant shrieks.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Innocence; Lament; Mourning; Nature; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Bereavement


AN ELEGY: PRINCESS KATHERINE BORN, CHRISTENED, BURIED IN ONE DAY, by RICHARD LOVELACE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You that can aptly mix your joys with cries
Last Line: Resign our office to the hierarchy.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


AN EPITAPH UPON A CHILD, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Virgins promis'd when I dy'd
Last Line: Maids, and here strew violets.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


AN IMAGINING, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Two sisters that I never saw
Last Line: Two little baby girls with wings.
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Graves; Imagination; Mothers; Childhood; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Fancy


AN UNWANTED BOY, by CLYDE MCGEE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Poor little lad!
Last Line: A mother's true love.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Loss; Mothers & Sons; Mourning; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Bereavement


ANCIENT PERU, by ANTONIO CISNEROS    Poem Source                    
First Line: With huarango branches
Last Line: Their children's bones
Subject(s): Death - Children; Peru


ANGEL JEWELL, by ALICE R. FRIMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Was it the fatal perfection of her name
Last Line: With wailing or a plea?
Subject(s): Death - Children


ANNA, by C. B. FOLLETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: When she died
Last Line: And though they knew %they'd lost a daughter, %they were forever wrong %about which one
Subject(s): Death - Children


APPARITION, by TESS GALLAGHER            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Ghosts; Death - Children; Family Life; Death - Babies; Relatives


APRIL THE TWENTIETH, 1948, by DAHLIA KAVEH    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother in the morning
Last Line: In the paper the death %of her son
Subject(s): Death - Children; Middle East - Conflicts


ARALUEN (2), by HENRY CLARENCE KENDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Take this rose, and very gently place it on the tender, deep
Last Line: Other hands will come and tend them -- other friends in other hours.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Death - Babies


ARCHEDIKE, by SIMONIDES OF CEOS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The child of hippias, foremost captain once / in hellas' land, lies here
Last Line: She lifted not her heart to vanity.
Alternate Author Name(s): Simonides Of Keos
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME?, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Each day, when the glow of sunset
Last Line: "yes, dear! They are all at home!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


AREN'T YOU OVER THAT YET?, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Snap out of it!
Last Line: And never be able to %snap out of it!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


ARTIFICE, by EDWARD BUTSCHER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The house curtains silence
Last Line: Began their slow descent, %the little girl %like butter %in their mouths
Subject(s): Death - Children


AS WE APPROACH SEPTEMBER, by MEGAN LAUBER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Almost a year ago
Last Line: If only we could have told you %how much we would miss you
Subject(s): Death - Children


ASHES, by JEAN KEMPER HOFFMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two days
Last Line: Ashes %if you hug them %spill through your fingers
Subject(s): Death - Children


AT DAWN, by SAROJINI NAIDU    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Children, my children, the daylight is breaking
Last Line: Anoint with your love or arraign with your pardon?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Tears; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


AT HOME TONIGHT, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lessons are done and the prizes won
Last Line: "yes, ""home to-night!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Home; Death - Babies


AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY    Poem Text                    
First Line: She stood at the beautiful gate of heaven
Last Line: But never to be divided more.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Graves; Heaven; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


AT THE FUNERAL OF A CHILD, by SONDRA UPHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: I think of his mother
Last Line: Her head swans down upon her chest, %her dark hair shining
Subject(s): Death - Children


ATTESTATION, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I, enrique xavier villaruta, marques d'orizaba
Last Line: Regarding this miraculous event
Subject(s): Death - Children; Miracles


AUTUMN, by ALBERT SAMAIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Slowly we go with the old dog close behind us
Last Line: Of dead illusions as of children that have died.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


AUTUMN, 1984, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: In one picture, sam, age 5, your hair was convict
Last Line: This year, my son, your vote might have helped
Subject(s): Death - Children


AWKWARD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's been awkward being
Last Line: Pretend that I never %had my second child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


B, by CAROL FOWLER    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


BABE BURIED AT SEA, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The deep sea took the dead. It was a babe
Last Line: Never to fade, nor die. --
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sea; Death - Babies; Ocean


BABY BELL, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Have you not heard the poets tell
Last Line: Out of this world of ours.
Variant Title(s): The Ballad Of Babie Bell
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Childhood; Death - Babies


BABY GIRL T, by KIRSTEN EMMOTT    Poem Source                    
First Line: The infant who dies at birth
Subject(s): Death - Children


BABY'S DYING, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Baby's dying, / do not stir
Last Line: Kiss and miss her after while.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


BAD MEMORIES, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes my mind
Last Line: The memory lingers %heavy all day
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


BARGAINING, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: God %I wish
Last Line: I promise not %to tell...Honest
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


BASKETBALL PLAYER'S FINGERS, by JOHN WESSELLS ATTHOWE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Fingers
Last Line: There is %no numbness %in the relaxed fingertips %of these spindles
Subject(s): Death - Children


BEATEN TO DEATH, by CAROLINE CLIVE    Poem Text                    
First Line: At depth of night, this thought on home had shone
Last Line: Was dying through two hours -- beaten to death.
Alternate Author Name(s): V; Meysey-wigley, Caroline
Subject(s): Death - Children; Murder; Teaching & Teachers; Death - Babies; Educators; Professors


BECAUSE IT HAPPENED, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A death-cry ripens, and rises - a boy's
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


BED ROOM DOOR, by MAXINE SILVERMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When I woke I opened the door
Subject(s): Death - Children


BEFORE PENICILLIN, by BELLE WARING    Poem Source                    
First Line: The doctor steps into the room
Last Line: On her fragrant, inculpable neck
Subject(s): Death - Children; Labor And Laborers; Physicians


BEGIN WITH FRIDAY, by REGINA REIBSTEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Take saturday away
Subject(s): Death - Children


BEING HOME, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am home now
Last Line: And knows no travelers %no departures %nor even homecomings
Subject(s): Death - Children


BELLS FOR JOHN WHITESIDE'S DAUGHTER, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: There was such speed in her little body
Last Line: Lying so primly propped.
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Funerals; Social Protest; Death - Babies; Burials


BENEATH THE PINE, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Beneath the shadows of this tree
Last Line: The treasure is the heart is there.
Subject(s): Angels; Cemeteries; Death - Children; Graves; Hearts; Heaven; Love - Loss Of; Graveyards; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


BEREAVED, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let me come in where you sit weeping
Last Line: Who have no child to die.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


BEREAVEMENT, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Nay, weep not, dearest, though the child be dead
Last Line: That where our treasure is, our hearts may be.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


BEREFT, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Though heaven has gained one angel more
Last Line: Gaze through the gates of paradise.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Sons; Death - Babies


BEST LAID, by JOHN HENRY MITCHELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Bright white mice
Last Line: But you laugh and tell him %you're a well-adjusted sot
Subject(s): Death - Children


BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND NOON, by WANDA PRAISNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's not only
Last Line: We film the white %lotus blossom %the guide tells us %closeseach night, %reopens in day
Subject(s): Death - Children


BETWEEN THE QUAY OF SAN NICOLAS AND THE SEA, by ANTONIO CISNEROS    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's a little sun still, the cables creak
Last Line: Forgive me, forgive her
Subject(s): Death - Children; Family Life


BEYOND THE SUNSET, by HENRY CHAPPELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Beside the cripple's casement
Last Line: Beyond the sunset veil.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


BIOLOGIST PLANS HIS FUNERAL, by DAVID HALL    Poem Source                    
First Line: The organism ages and expires
Last Line: Lay me naked in a hole. %I wrote a paper once on worms
Subject(s): Death - Children


BIRTH, by MADELIN TIGER BASS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The instant of birth is equisitie
Subject(s): Death - Children


BLIND CAT BLACK, by ECE AYHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: An absent-minded tightrope walker comes. From the sea
Last Line: Too big. The old hawker cries. A pirate ship. Has entered the port
Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Death - Children


BLUE FLOWER, RED MOON, by JAN LEE ANDE    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are the children who never grow up
Last Line: We learn to stitch the word forgiven %onto our tattered bodies
Subject(s): Death - Children


BONES OF JOAN WEBSTER, by CAROL DINE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Near chebacco lake
Last Line: Her parents will say: %at least it is settled
Subject(s): Death - Children


BOY AT THE UPSTAIRS WINDOW WITH HIS HEAD IN HIS HANDS, by ANNE SZUMIGALSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is heavy as a stone he tells himself like any rock in the field
Last Line: Of the mind
Subject(s): Death - Children; Farm Life; Fathers And Sons; Prairies


BRIDGE, by CYNTHIA SUE PEDERSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Connects distance
Last Line: No wonder you found each other %in the mist of that cold morning
Subject(s): Death - Children


BRIEF SONG, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: There will come a day
Last Line: Moving those pines, moving %even the stone. %and then, then I can let go
Subject(s): Death - Children


BRIGHT BEADS, by MINNIE FAEGRE KNOX    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep well, my child, and rest those baby feet
Last Line: A fan-shaped group of little bones ... Bright beads.
Subject(s): Babies; Death - Children; Fingers; Funerals; Infants; Death - Babies; Burials


BROKEN HEART, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My heart is broken
Last Line: Span has shortened considerably %am I dying too?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


BURIAL OF AN EMIGRANT'S CHILD IN THE FOREST, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The desolation and the agony
Last Line: Kneel, and bow submitted hearts to god!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Death - Children; Forests; Funerals; Death - Babies; Woods; Burials


BURIAL OF TWO YOUNG SISTERS; ONLY CHILDREN OF THEIR PARENTS, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They're here, in this turf-bed - those tender forms
Last Line: Blend in a full eternity of bliss.
Subject(s): Childlessness; Death - Children; Death - Babies


BURIED CHILD, by JAMES MCCORKLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: After the shots, one in each arm
Last Line: Only in the body's warmth, your light
Subject(s): Death - Children; Memory


BURNED GARAGE, by ALICE CONNELLY NAGLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: What he didn't intend was the explosion, the car
Last Line: The roof, repaired. There also, %not intended, %ash, dark holes
Subject(s): Death - Children


BURYING THE TWINS, by RONDALYN VARNEY WHITNEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father looked for days
Last Line: It would have broke your heart %to see jim varney bury his boys
Subject(s): Death - Children


BUT WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY MOTHER IS, by FLORENCE ANTHONY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You are barely able to walk
Last Line: And it was good
Alternate Author Name(s): Ai
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers And Daughters; Women


BY THE GASLIGHT CITIES OF THE PLANETS, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Move in my tears; %tiny pears %traveling %in evening clothes
Subject(s): Death - Children


CANSO: 3, by WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I believe at dark solstice in the white moon sailing new
Last Line: To sleep in the turning garden for as long as the sea
Alternate Author Name(s): Merwin, W. S.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning; Heaven; Prayer; Sailors And Sailing; Seashore


CASIDA OF THE ONE WOUNDED BY WATER, by FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: I want to go down to the well,
Last Line: That I may see the one wounded by water
Subject(s): Death - Children; Water


CATHARINE, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: We children every morn would wait
Last Line: "and tell the master catharine's dead."
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


CEREMONY, by ROBERT PETERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I take you from the church
Last Line: To dazzle empires %when you ran laughing %beside the frosty lake, %mortal, lovely, mine
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHALKBOARD, by MARIE HENRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: She wrote a note on the chalkboard, underneath phil
Last Line: And I wonder why you stopped leaving messages on the %chalkboard
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHANCE MEETING, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: The name has no basis
Last Line: Eye in his chest, the %quilted light--balancing %precariously-- %behind the door
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHILD, by LEON LEIVA GALLARDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's the smile of a child
Last Line: Little white cradle %subterranean
Subject(s): Babies; Cradles; Death - Children; Heaven


CHILD AND A MAN, by SAMUEL RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today wild animals deep inside
Last Line: Cries of love for you, %but I did not reply %I love you!
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHILD DYING, by EDWIN MUIR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Unfriendly friendly universe, %I pack your stars into my purse
Last Line: I did not know death was so strange
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; World War Ii


CHILDLESS COUPLE, by PHYLLIS CAPELLO    Poem Source                    
First Line: They have many plants
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHILDREN DISINTERRED, by MARION ALBINA BIGELOW                       
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHIMES, by WALTER EDWARDS HOUGHTON JR.    Poem Text                    
First Line: It was a silly night
Last Line: But I still live to mourn.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


CHRISTMAS NIGHT, by NICHOLAS SCHAFFNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Slowly as feathers, the snow
Last Line: Dance for only you %(as does the falling snow) %to the sound of a calliope
Subject(s): Death - Children


CHRISTOPHER ON THE ULTRASOUND, by FAITH WILLIAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You lie in that secret home
Subject(s): Death - Children


CLEVEDON VERSES: 2. DORA, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She knelt upon her brother's grave
Last Line: My god, I leave it unto thee.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Clevedon, Great Britain; Death - Children; Death - Babies


CLEVEDON VERSES: 3. SECUTURUS, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Each night when I behold my bed
Last Line: And I would gladly die.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Clevedon, Great Britain; Death - Children; Death - Babies


CLIPPING, by WANDA PRAISNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Vacuuming a chair
Last Line: How as we swam away, a garua mist %swallowed them--the gray place %where we learn to live with less
Subject(s): Death - Children; Vacuum Cleaners


COME AWAY, DEATH, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Come away, death, make no mistake
Last Line: A dead-born child destroy its mother.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


COMFORT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even though it is uncomfortable
Last Line: To be comfortable %with letting her baby go
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


CONCERNING THE INFANTICIDE, MARIE FARRAR, by BERTOLT BRECHT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Marie farrar, born in april
Last Line: Therefore, I beg you, check your wrath and scorn %for man needs help from every creature born
Subject(s): Death - Children; Murder


CONSOLATIN TO M. DU PERIER, by FRANCOIS DE MALHERBE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And must thy grief, du perier, knowe no end?
Last Line: Can lead us unto peace.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


CONSOLATION TO M. DU PERRIER, by FRANCOIS DE MALHERBE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Du perrier, must thy grief eternal be
Last Line: This only gives us rest.
Subject(s): Consolation; Death - Children; Death - Babies


CONSOLATION; TO M. DUPERRIER, ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER, by FRANCOIS DE MALHERBE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Will then, duperrier, thy sorrow be eternal?
Last Line: That gives us any rest.
Subject(s): Consolation; Death - Children; Death - Babies


CONTINUOUS SURFACE, by MARITA GARIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A tentative curve describing
Subject(s): Death - Children


CORIDON ON THE DEATH OF HIS DEAR ALEXIS, OB. JAN. 28, 1682/3, by THOMAS FLATMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Alexis! Dear alexis! Lovely boy!
Last Line: For what my sighs and pray'rs can ne'er retrieve?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


CORNELIA II, by STEPHEN FRECH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I can hardly lift her, the third and only child
Last Line: What should I name her?
Subject(s): Death - Children


COULD YOU HAVE BLINKED AND NOT SEEN IT AND BEEN SAVED?, by LARRY HOLLAND    Poem Source                    
First Line: Six years old I stared unblinking
Last Line: Curled around time's trigger %frames life surely %as a shot in an album
Subject(s): Death - Children


COUSINS, by BARBARA HELFGOTT HYETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wake up first, watch the roses
Last Line: We didn't know what we were waiting for then
Subject(s): Death - Children


CRADLE SONG, by ALICE CONNELLY NAGLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The grave next to yours belongs
Last Line: Small gifts of a baseball, a cluster of sourgrass, %that will keep you my son, %understood
Subject(s): Death - Children


CRAUSHEEN, by AGNES ITA HANRAHAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ay so, a wee house, / an' three acres av green
Last Line: "from broadway—maureen!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Girls; Love; Thought; Death - Babies; Thinking


CRIB, by MAUDE MEEHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is too silent here
Subject(s): Death - Children


CUTHBERT, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful mother / of a beautiful boy
Last Line: Welcomed by christ who has conquered the grave!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Mothers & Sons; Death - Babies; Paradise


DAHN THE PLUG 'OLE, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: A muvver was barfin' 'er biby one night
Last Line: "your biby 'as fell dahn the plug 'ole / not lorst, but gorn before!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DAUGHTERS OF TROY: ANDROMACHIE LEARNS OF HER SON'S FATE, by EURIPIDES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O wife of hector, phrygia's mightiest once
Last Line: Have I attained - I, who have lost my son!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Troy


DAVID, by CYNTHIA SUE PEDERSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: He had a broad face, full cheeks
Last Line: As our current events topics %each friday: %vietnam, world hunger
Subject(s): Death - Children


DAVID'S CHILD; SONNET, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In face of a great sorrow like to death
Last Line: But when the heart is broken -- not a word.
Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DAWES CEMETERY, by EDIE ARONOWITZ MUELLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Little aggie is held
Last Line: He rocks in the evening on his porch %that faces the opposite way
Subject(s): Death - Children


DE LEO TWINS, by JILL BART    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the cemetery
Last Line: And circle slowly, telling %the hours of their only dance
Subject(s): Death - Children


DE PROFUNDIS; DEDICATED TO MY DEAR FRIEND MARY STRUDWICK NICOLSON, by BELLE RICHARDSON HARRISON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The sunshine faded from the room
Last Line: To greet that resurrection morn!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Heaven; Mothers; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Paradise


DEAD BOY, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: The little cousin is dead, by foul subtraction
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DEAD BOY, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The little cousin is dead, by foul subtraction
Last Line: But this was the old tree's late branch wrenched away, %grieving the sapless limbs, the shorn and sh
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEAD CHILDREN, by PETER WILD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Perhaps it is a comfort when the ancients go
Last Line: Like confused deer one sees by the highway, %circling and circling the struck young at dawn
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEAR LEO, by KAREN YOCHIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: I told you when you called
Last Line: Out on. I guess this means we're %no longer engaged. %keep in touch
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEAR PARAMEDIC, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My baby's dead!'
Last Line: That I never %got to finish %rocking %my baby
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DEATH, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Listen
Last Line: That bent, this nicked. %coins spent, %current cut. %that's all
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEATH ARRANGEMENTS, by JOCELYN RILEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: You arranged
Last Line: In you stilted sprawl, %who had once been so floppy and tall
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEATH COMES TO ME AGAIN, A GIRL, by DORIANNE LAUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Death comes to me again, a girl in a cotton slip
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; Graves; Silence; Women; Graveyards; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


DEATH COMES TO ME AGAIN, A GIRL, by DORIANNE LAUX    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Death comes to me again, a girl in a cotton slip
Last Line: Especially when they fight, and when they sing
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; Graves; Silence; Women


DEATH OF A GIRL IN BUDAPEST, by KIM CHUN-SOO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Winter was setting in across eastern europe
Last Line: More wretched that a rat dead in a ditch
Subject(s): Death - Children


DEATH OF A SON (WHO DIED IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL AGED ONE), by JON SILKIN                        Poet's Biography
First Line: Something has ceased to come along with me
Subject(s): Death - Children; Depression, Mental; Death - Babies; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress


DEATH OF A SON (WHO DIED IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL AGED ONE), by JON SILKIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Something has ceased to come along with me
Last Line: And out of his eyes two great tear rolleds, like stones, and he died
Subject(s): Death - Children; Depression, Mental


DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING, by MARGARET ATWOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He, who navigated with success
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning; Death - Babies


DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING, by MARGARET ATWOOD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He, who navigated with success
Last Line: I planted him in this country %like a flag
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning


DEATH OF AN INFANT, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Death found strange beauty on that cherub
Last Line: The signet-ring of heaven.
Subject(s): Beauty; Death - Children; Tears; Death - Babies


DEATH OF AN INFANTS, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One little bud adorned my bower
Last Line: T will bloom again on high.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER, by EDWARD JERNINGHAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ah, venerate this hallowed ground
Last Line: "their little mistress they bemoan."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


DEATH SENTENCE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I can't stand
Last Line: Her death is %like a sentence %passed on to me
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DEATH TO A THREE YEAR OLD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: After you died
Last Line: Where you went %especially your big brother
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DECEMBER, by JOHN HILDEBIDLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Singing one more half-tuned time
Last Line: Like the one rose in snow, a wry %triumph even of skeptic hope
Subject(s): Death - Children


DECISIONS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Parents make decisions
Last Line: Why %did we think %we could grieve for him
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DENISE AT TWENTY-NINE, by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: She waits, facing toward home %empty of sight, releases from blood
Subject(s): Death - Children


DESIDERIUM: IN MEMORIAM, S.F.A., by ANDREW LANG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The call of homing rooks, the shrill
Last Line: Hadst pleasure still, I might not grieve.
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; Graves; Grief; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Sorrow; Sadness


DESTINY, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three roses, wan as moonlight, and weighed down
Last Line: Shut in the icy palm of her dead child.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Roses; Death - Babies


DETROIT, TOMORROW, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Newspaper says the boy killed by someone
Subject(s): Death - Children; Detroit, Michigan; Death - Babies


DETROIT, TOMORROW, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Newspaper says the boy killed by someone
Last Line: To kneel down and pray for life eternal
Subject(s): Death - Children; Detroit, Michigan


DIED YOUNG, by CORA RANDALL FABBRI    Poem Text                    
First Line: And she is sleeping now without a dream
Last Line: In that you know the mystery of death.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DIM HOUSE, BRIGHT FACE, by TESS GALLAGHER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She still cries over that dead child
Last Line: The ones who can't know yet what living was
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DIRGE FOR AN INFANT, by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is dead and gone -- a flower
Last Line: All is over with him now!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hunt, Leigh
Subject(s): Death - Children


DISAPPEARING WOMAN, by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mission padres, only the sailors saw me rise
Last Line: For the sake of decency, you said. %I had a language
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Native Americans; Women - Captives


DIVER, by SUSAN FAWCETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: After the drowning of his firstborn son
Last Line: And over he came back, permitting me %to fill his arms
Subject(s): Death - Children


DON'T TOUCH, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You came in
Last Line: I have no %baby but I %do have her %shoes and socks
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DOROTHY, by ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear little dorothy, she is no more!
Last Line: Are more lost than my heart, which died not when it broke!
Alternate Author Name(s): Alphonsa, Mother Mary
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


DOUBLE VODKA SCREWDRIVERS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: This is all about %double vodka screwdrivers?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


DOUBTS, by WING WATSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: I guess this will really be the spring
Last Line: Yet crocuses are a good omen, %spring is feeling the sun, %as if for the first time
Subject(s): Death - Children


DR. EGG: 6 I IMAGINE THE DEATH OF DR. EGG'S DAUGHTER, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dr. Egg is walking her
Last Line: They slip %right through his fingers
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers And Daughters; Psychology


DREAM IN WHICH RUMPLESTILSKIN COMES BACK, by SARAH COTTERILL    Poem Source                    
First Line: The child drinks at me
Subject(s): Death - Children


DRESSING FOR THE FUNERAL, by MEGAN LAUBER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I change my clothes
Last Line: And paint my feet with the pilot light %leaving only my voice %at your grave
Subject(s): Death - Children


DRIVER'S LICENCE, by MAUREEN MOREHEAD    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was swimming at the y today
Last Line: As we drive through louisville
Subject(s): Death - Children


DRUMS FOR KENNY, by BETH HARRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The drumming stopped
Last Line: Now I think the whole world %will hear about this
Subject(s): Death - Children


DYING, by CHRISTINA-MARIE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tormenting winds die with relief
Last Line: Time is marked on your grave, %carved in stone. But wind carries leaves %and dandelion seeds over it
Subject(s): Death - Children


EDDIE COCHRAN CAR RIDE, by GWYNNE GARFINKLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I coulda gone that way too
Last Line: (how fitting they found you %in your car)
Subject(s): Death - Children


EILEEN, DIARMUID, AND TEIG, by JAMES STEPHENS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Be kind unto these three, o king!
Last Line: Be kind, o king, unto this two and one!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EITHER HE'S DEAD OR MY WATCH HAS STOPPED, by MICHAEL OAKES    Poem Source                    
First Line: There was the phone call, late
Last Line: Same river mallards, as if they can %tell me what the shadow means
Subject(s): Death - Children


ELEGY, by YUAN CHEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: O youngest, best-loved daughter of hsieh
Last Line: That lifelong trouble of your brow
Alternate Author Name(s): Wei-chih
Subject(s): Death - Children


ELEGY FOR A HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND, by SONDRA UPHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: By the time she was thirty-one
Last Line: Toward the train that came %whistling at her like a love-struck boy
Subject(s): Death - Children


ELEGY FOR YOUTH, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I trembled when I heard the news
Last Line: I may follow without fear, %your gift to me
Subject(s): Death - Children


ELEVEN DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was getting ready
Last Line: Get the baby anymore %the baby is dead
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


EMMA MAXWELL, by JEAN BAUR    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daughter leads me to the graveyard
Subject(s): Death - Children


ENVELOPE, by MAXINE W. KUMIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is true, martin heidegger, as you have written
Last Line: That chain letter good for the next twenty-five %thousand days of their lives
Alternate Author Name(s): Kumin, Maxine
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fear; Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976); Human Rights


EPIGRAM ON A DEAD CHILD, by LUCIAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The frowning fates have taken hence / callimachus, a child
Last Line: So were his troubles small.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lucianus
Variant Title(s): Calimachus
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPIGRAM: 19. NICOTELES, by CALLIMACHUS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Philip's nicoteles, a twelve-year lad
Last Line: Lies buried here; the hope his father had.
Alternate Author Name(s): Kallimachos
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPIGRAM: 45. ON MY FIRST SON, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy
Last Line: As what he loves may never like too much.
Variant Title(s): On His First Sonne;on My First Sonne;epitaph: On My Son
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers; Grief; Men; Mourning; Parents; Prayer; Sons; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Bereavement; Parenthood


EPITAPH, by EDWARD BUTSCHER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In 1776 on a blue and gold day
Last Line: The grasses over her grave %still pray towards the sea
Subject(s): Death - Children


EPITAPH FOR A YOUNG LADY, by CAROLINE CLIVE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Youth, beauty, love, a mother's joy divine
Last Line: But sees the daylight dawn beyond the tomb.
Alternate Author Name(s): V; Meysey-wigley, Caroline
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPITAPH FOR JOHN HOLDEN, D. 1844 AGED 5; WORCESTERSHIRE, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: So soon I thought thou would'st not fade
Last Line: But life is like a taper's ray, %which slightest breeze may waft away
Subject(s): Death - Children


EPITAPH FOR MARIANA GRYPHIUS, HIS BROTHER PAUL'S LITTLE DAUGHTER, by ANDREAS GRYPHIUS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Born on the run, ambushed by sword and flame
Last Line: But I was old if you add the things I suffered
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs


EPITAPH FOR MARY BOLTON, D. 1882, AGED 7; LANCASHIRE, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: She had no fault save what travellers give the moon
Last Line: Her life was bright, but died, alas! Too soon
Subject(s): Death - Children


EPITAPH FOR THE SON OF THE 4TH LORD WHARTON, D. 1642, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nine months wrought me in ye wombe
Last Line: Use it so that thou maist be %happy in ye next with me
Subject(s): Death - Children


EPITAPH ON A BEAUTIFUL INFANT, by THOMAS MAURICE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Bright to the sun expands the vernal rose
Last Line: Put forth fair blossoms, charmed us, and expired.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON A CHILD, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: They killed her lamb, and no one wept
Last Line: This was the little one.
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON A CHILD, by THOMAS GRAY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here, freed from pain, secure from misery, lies
Last Line: Now let him sleep in peace his night of death.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON A NEPHEW, IN CATWORTH CHURCH, HUNTINGDONSHIRE, by JOHN DRYDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Stay, stranger, stay, and drop one tear
Last Line: His father's fifth, her only son.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Grief; Tears; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


EPITAPH ON AN INFANT (1), by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade
Last Line: And bade it blossom there.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON AN INFANT (2), by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Its balmy lips the infant blest
Last Line: Death sang to sleep with lullaby.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON EROTION, by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Underneath this greedy stone
Last Line: The only melancholy stone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Martial
Variant Title(s): Erotion
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


EPITAPH ON HER SON HECTOR PHILIPS, by KATHERINE PHILIPS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What on earth deserves our trust?
Last Line: Bury'd in a morning cloud.
Alternate Author Name(s): Orinda
Variant Title(s): Epitaph On Her Son H.p. At St. Syth's Church
Subject(s): Beauty; Death - Children; Epitaphs; Life; Youth; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON MRS. ANNE PRIDEAUX, DAUGHTER OF DR. PRIDEAUX, by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nature in this small volume was about
Last Line: Threw dust upon it, and shut up the book
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, William Of Tavistock
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Prideaux, John (1578-1650); Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON S.P., A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Weep with me, all you that read
Last Line: Heaven vows to keep him.
Variant Title(s): Epitaph For Salomon Pavey, Child Actor In Queen's Revels Co.;epitaph On Salathiel Pavy, A Child Of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel;epitaph: On Solomon Pavy, Child Of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel
Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Death - Children; London; Actresses; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS [OR VILLERS] (1), by THOMAS CAREW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This little vault, this narrow room
Last Line: The flames, the arrows, all lie here.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS [OR VILLERS] (2), by THOMAS CAREW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The lady mary villiers lies
Last Line: May'st find thy darling in an urn.
Variant Title(s): On The Lady Mary Villiers
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON THE LADY MARY VILLIERS [OR VILLERS] (3), by THOMAS CAREW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The purest soule that e're was sent
Last Line: Of room to lodge th' inhabitant.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON THE MONUMENT OF ROBERT DIGBY, AND HIS SISTER MARY, by ALEXANDER POPE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go! Fair example of untainted youth
Last Line: Tis all a father, all a friend can give!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EPITAPH ON THE TOMBSTONE OF A CHILD, LAST OF SEVEN THAT DIED BEFORE, by APHRA BEHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This little, silent, gloomy monument
Last Line: Spread their gay wings before the throne, and smile.
Alternate Author Name(s): Astraea; Behn, Afara; Behn, Apharra; Amis, Ayfara
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


EPITAPH OVER THE GRAVE OF TWO BROTHERS, A CHILD AND A YOUTH, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou, that canst gaze upon thine own fair boy
Last Line: Where god hath sealed the fount of hope he gave.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Brothers; Death - Children; Graves; Half-brothers; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


EPITAPH UPON A CHILD THAT DIED, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here she lies, a pretty bud
Last Line: The earth that lightly covers her.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


EPITAPH: CATHERINE BAKER (1778-1779), by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ah lovely child and art thou fled
Last Line: So soon to join the silent dead
Subject(s): Death - Children;epitaphs; Death - Babies


EPITAPH: HENRY BROWN (1851-1861), by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: How soon I was cut down when innocent at play
Last Line: The wind it blew a scaffold down and took my life away
Subject(s): Death - Children;epitaphs; Death - Babies


ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who spurs on the road when day is done
Last Line: There in his arm the boy lay dead
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Superstition


ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who rideth so late through the night-wind
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural


ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who rides so late through the night-wind wild
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural


EROTION, by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear father and dear mother: let me crave
Last Line: The little girl so lightly bore on you.
Alternate Author Name(s): Martial
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


EULOGY/ HEAVEN IS DESTROYING ME, by JOHN DAVIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The road was so much longer than before
Last Line: Tomorrow we pause briefly %in the shadow of your eclipse, %ashadow without cosmology, without ellips
Subject(s): Death - Children; Troy


EVERY NIGHT, by SAMUEL RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Every night I sit
Last Line: Perhaps my vanity %will think it dark %and sleep
Subject(s): Death - Children


EXPERIENCE OF BLOOD, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I never knew there was so much blood
Last Line: Because after all it was my blood too
Subject(s): Blood; Death - Children; Suicide


FACTS, by CECILIA BUSTAMANTE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The invisible machines of war
Last Line: That expertly penetrates %the tree of life
Subject(s): Bullets; Death - Children; Guns; War


FALL RITUAL, by BARRI ARMITAGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even the marigolds on my windowsill
Last Line: I will kneel at this earth's pocket %as flesh of the springtime's flesh %begins to crown
Subject(s): Death - Children


FALLING APART, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I hear stories of
Last Line: After the death of %a child are you %allowed to fall apart
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


FALSE SPRING, by CAROL LEE SAFFIOTI    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have thought many things
Last Line: Water upon large stone surfaces %making pebbles
Subject(s): Death - Children


FANTASY BOOK, by WING WATSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My castle in the sky: red tiled house
Last Line: Book, that sits lost on a shelf, it will %be unearthed %someday
Subject(s): Death - Children


FAR FROM HOME, I REMEMBER THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND JOE WOLFE, GONE, by ANDREW MULVANIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Judge is quiet tonight
Last Line: Swift and silent as the pole of charon
Subject(s): Death - Children; Home; Memory


FAR OUT AT SEA, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Far out at sea! Far out at sea!
Last Line: Far out at sea! Far out at sea!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sea; Death - Babies; Ocean


FAREWELL, by JOHN PRESS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The smell of death was in the air
Last Line: And cry, by god's, or terror's, grace: %'I go, I go, away I go'
Subject(s): Death - Children


FATHER AND MOTHER: A MYSTERY, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The father: 'now it is over.'
Last Line: "the father: ""help me to believe!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Grief; Mothers & Daughters; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


FEBRUARY ELEGY, by MARY JO BANG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This bald year, frozen now in february.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


FIELD BURIAL, by CARROLL CARSTAIRS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Dying so young, may I retain of youth'
Last Line: "shall blossom into clover, gorse and flower."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


FINISH LINE, by BARRI ARMITAGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: At twelve, in a yellow slicker, she biked muddy fields, pedaling
Last Line: Tonight, I ride out my lights
Subject(s): Death - Children


FIRST ANNIVERSARY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm pregnant %nearly due
Last Line: You understand %the mother %you have
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


FIRST DAY OF SUMMER, 1984, by SUSAN FIRER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lost baby of strange light and dreams
Last Line: Gone fast as the click of the glasses %we had celebrated your beginning with
Subject(s): Death - Children


FIRST DEATH, by YVONNE MOORE HARDENBROOK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Though I didn't know you
Last Line: It's better to have it over %when you're young
Subject(s): Death - Children


FIRST SHOT OF THE SEASON, by LONNIE HODGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tracks ended in the early snow
Last Line: And the hunted, toward your face, %penitent and peaceful, in the snow
Subject(s): Death - Children


FIRST THURSDAY OF FALL SEMESTER, by MEGAN LAUBER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mopeds mutter by
Last Line: And you are buried between people you have never met %we will wipe the snow from your face
Subject(s): Death - Children


FIVE DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I know %my baby
Last Line: Do I %still hear %her crying?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


FLAIL, by ALICE R. FRIMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: 4 times around it came
Last Line: Being stuck, but weep down leaves thick as leather %and veiny as the back of my left hand?
Subject(s): Death - Children


FLOWERS FOR THE HEART, by EBENEZER ELLIOTT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Flowers! Winter flowers! - the child is dead
Last Line: The childless cannot speak!
Alternate Author Name(s): Corn-law Rhymer; Elliot, Ebenezer
Subject(s): Childlessness; Death - Children; Death - Babies


FOR A BOY DEAD AT THIRTEEN, by SONDRA UPHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: A beetle, plump and insistent
Last Line: Surrounded by the books he was reading %even the algebra %hecouldn't understand
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR A FRIEND UNDER IT ALL, by RANDY TOMLINSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: When your greyhound hit the ice
Last Line: That if you're deep enough %you can hear %the music of mud fish kissing
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR A MISCARRIED CHILD, by BARBARA HELFGOTT HYETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Bruised pear
Last Line: A sphere of pith and hardening %that makes trees stand
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR AMY (1957-1983), by DAISY FRIEDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: With the light the way it is today, no sign of sun
Last Line: Surprising her, again and then again, %with all her favorite songs
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR DAVID, THE 'BUBBLE BOY' (1), by ALICE B. FOGEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: David, heaven is too much
Last Line: God or child, david, you go so far beyond %me, here, left %to rise to your being gone
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR DAVID, THE 'BUBBLE BOY' (2), by ALICE B. FOGEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: David, heaven is too much %like a glass dome
Last Line: Don't go, david, into that open room %your last white bed, the living air
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR JOSEPH ANTHONY, by EUGENE PLATT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Happy birthday, son
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR MOHAMMED ZEID OF GAZA, AGE 15, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no stray bullet, sirs
Subject(s): Middle East - Conflicts; Death - Children; Gaza, Palestine; Arab-israeli Conflict; Death - Babies


FOR NICHOLAS, by TIMOTHY SCHAFFNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Antoni gaudi dreams
Last Line: Explore the smog-ridden %air as gaudi's %cathedral blooms %endlessly
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR THE BOTH OF US, by CINDY BELLINGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: His name was probably %timothy
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR THE WINDOW IN ST. MARGARET'S, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Afar he sleeps whose name is graven here
Last Line: Heaven lent, earth borrowed, sorrowing to restore.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


FOR THERE IS NO HELP IN THEM, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She lies on that white breast she loves, and well
Last Line: So disenchanted and so sadly wise.
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


FOR THOSE WHO ARE LEFT, by BARRY STERNLIEB    Poem Source                    
First Line: For those who are left
Last Line: Whatever isn't being born %is giving birth
Subject(s): Death - Children


FOR WING WATSON, by GEORGETTE PRESTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Severe in
Last Line: Were little spaces, %hesitations %at fall of night %and the counting %of sparrows
Subject(s): Death - Children


FROM THE INTERIOR, by PATRICIA MONAGHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The pass was difficult; more so
Subject(s): Death - Children


FROM THE JOURNAL OF AMANDA'S DEATH, by BERNICE RENDRICK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Wednesday: at the mailbox
Last Line: Framed your own exotic face %that returned our love, %dropped it in leis over our heads
Subject(s): Death - Children


FUNERAL, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Funeral arrangements %flowers, headstone
Last Line: My heart %and mind %completely broken
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


GATHERING--A CONCERTO OF BROKEN CHIMNEYS, by JENNIFER GARRETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: She lives in a house with lots of windows
Last Line: Praying both deep sides of heaven %please... %hold her heart again
Subject(s): Death - Children


GEESE WITH THE BLACK NECKS HAVE GONE, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Across the slow still surface of the autumn lake %like all the days of summer
Subject(s): Death - Children


GET WELL, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You've been %on antibiotics
Last Line: Grief over %your sister's %death closer %to acceptance
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


GHAZAL OF THE DARK DEATH, by FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis            
First Line: I want to sleep the sleep of the apples
Last Line: Who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea
Subject(s): Absence; Death - Children


GIFT, by KATHLEEN ANN IDDINGS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Grandma kinneson's right shoulder
Last Line: Grandpa's trembling arms %offering her dead two-year-old %like a broken gift
Subject(s): Death - Children


GILAD FALLEN IN SINAI, by LEO HABER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not my son who followed his fathers
Last Line: No! One band of prime light-- %and another ineradicable mark%on time's shifting sand
Subject(s): Death - Children


GIRL DEATH, by MAUREEN MCNEIL    Poem Source                    
First Line: She was no longer than darkness
Last Line: I walked conover street in my nightgown to watch %her spiritship sail out of new york harbor
Subject(s): Death - Children


GIVING AWAY HIS THINGS, by CARINE TOPAL    Poem Source                    
First Line: She's packing her husband's things
Last Line: To the corner store %given any %given up %given %given %given
Subject(s): Death - Children


GOD AS THIEF, by CARINE TOPAL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like the hand of god
Last Line: How I knew %how breaking my heart %opened it
Subject(s): Death - Children


GOD'S MOOD, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: These daughters are bone
Last Line: Adam's whining ways
Subject(s): Death - Children; Old Age; Solitude; Death - Babies; Loneliness


GOD'S MOOD, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: These daughters are bone
Last Line: He is tired of eve's fancy and %adam's whining ways
Subject(s): Death - Children; Old Age; Solitude


GOLDSBORO NARRATIVE #4: MY FATHER'S VIET NAM TOUR NEAR OVER, by FORREST HAMER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The young dead soldier was younger
Last Line: And, afterwards, there's nothing left %to look forward to
Subject(s): Army - United States; Death - Children; War


GOODNIGHT, by WING WATSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sleep %dream and hug your dog
Last Line: I will adjust the thermostat %and bring in the cat
Subject(s): Death - Children


GREEN LIGHTS ON A BICYCLE, by NANCY ARMITAGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Somehow I wander to the dizzy
Last Line: But these chains of yours %won't crack... %are there really brakes?
Subject(s): Death - Children


GRIEF, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometiems lately I've
Last Line: Times I'm fine %really I am
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


GRIEF RITUAL, by JENNIFER LAGIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stitch shock beneath the features
Last Line: I grow accustomed to anger's devouring ulcer, need pain %to eclipse the endless movie that keeps rol
Subject(s): Death - Children


GUILT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even though my doctor
Last Line: As if letting it go %--would let her go
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your first birthday
Last Line: Your birthdays will %never be happy
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HARVEST, by BERNITA SUNDQUIST    Poem Source                    
First Line: Alone in the april woods you leaped to darkness
Last Line: We stood with you in the dark, %our sister, one of us people, %and we wept %for you %for us
Subject(s): Death - Children


HAUNTED, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I get so scared
Last Line: I get so scared %the thought of it... %finding my baby dead
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HEADDSTONE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I %don't %have %a %baby
Last Line: I %have %a %headstone
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HEAVEN'S GLORY SHONE WHERE HE WAS LAID, by EMILY JANE BRONTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis
Subject(s): Death - Children; Dreams; Death - Babies; Nightmares


HER FIRST-BORN, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was her first sweet child, her heart's delight
Last Line: Nor knows how soon it will be borne away.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


HER PICTURE BY THE PIANO, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Yes, it tells
Last Line: No matter how much it tells %no matter how much it asks %I don't %know
Subject(s): Death - Children


HEULWEN, by BRENDA SHAW    Poem Source                    
First Line: The night she died
Last Line: No, her light is out. %it's all quiet %where heulwen is
Subject(s): Death - Children


HIEROGLYPHICS, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: September is lying on its side
Last Line: I must get back. %I left my favorite pants %hanging %in the closet
Subject(s): Death - Children


HIS DAUGHTER, DYING ON HER FATHER'S BIRTHDAY, by HENRY CAREY (1687-1743)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That fatal day, which lent my earliest breath
Last Line: "mine calls aloud for tears, and bids me weep."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


HIT ME, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes I %don't even
Last Line: It hits %me all %over again
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HOLIDAY TIME, by CARLYN PARKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Perhaps you would still love me
Last Line: As thanksgivings come and go %satan's reindeers pull my sleigh
Subject(s): Death - Children


HOLY INNOCENTS (2), by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They scarcely waked before they slept
Last Line: Dear mothers, come: for heaven is best.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


HOPE, by KATE BERTRAND    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hope is a little nervous
Subject(s): Death - Children


HOW I LEARNED THAT DEATH COULD WAIT, by JO NELSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sabrina knew how I
Last Line: That her demise %did not validate my own-- %only then did she %release my hand
Subject(s): Death - Children


HOW TO BE LOVED, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: That lake was where beneath pine panels
Last Line: I hear it still, the radio, the son
Subject(s): Death - Children


HOW'S THE BABY?, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was having
Last Line: About something happening %to someone else
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


HYMN: SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, by REGINALD HEBER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Wake! Not, oh mother! Sounds of lamentation!
Last Line: Strong was the word of god to succour thee!
Variant Title(s): The Widow Of Nain
Subject(s): Death - Children; Jesus Christ - Life & Ministry; Worship; Death - Babies


I AM A SAINT WITH RED LACES IN MY HIKING BOOTS!, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: As if it stored in itself %an immense power %that it does not need to use
Subject(s): Death - Children


I FOUND HER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I made a bottle for her
Last Line: And now she is gone forever
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


I LIVE A PRAYER, by ETHELYN MILLER HARTWICH    Poem Text                    
First Line: With human love
Last Line: This is my prayer.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love; Prayer; Death - Babies


I LOVED MY LITTLE COUSIN, by BETH BARMACK    Poem Source                    
First Line: That smooth child white
Last Line: Your small silhouette %loops over us like %a lasso pushing %its way forward
Subject(s): Death - Children


I NEEDED YOU, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My baby %who depended
Last Line: And I %thought you %needed me
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


I WANT TO SCREAM, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lately when I hear
Last Line: You have no problems
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


ICE CHILD, by JOHN HAINES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Cold for so long, unable to speak,
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ICONOCLASTS, by CHARLES WHITWORTH WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line: There are those who would silence the thrush
Last Line: Comes the luminous face of christ!
Alternate Author Name(s): Cayzer, Charles
Subject(s): Death - Children; Religion; Spirituality; Death - Babies; Theology


IF ONLY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: To sids parents
Last Line: If only %we %weren't %sids %parents
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


IF YOU HAVE TO WRITE POEMS, by ? TRIMMER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Go where I can't see you, %and take your poems
Subject(s): Death - Children


IL Y A UNE FOIS, by D. BOSLEY WILDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Once upon a time
Last Line: Counterpart %of my heart %which died %that same summer
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN FRANCE, by CLINTON SCOLLARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is it well with henri and jean and paul?
Last Line: "well with them all—they are all with god!"
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; France; Mothers & Sons; Soldiers; Sons; War; Dead, The; Death - Babies


IN HEAVEN, by THOMAS WESTWOOD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Silence filled the courts of heaven
Last Line: "thy will, o lord, be done!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


IN MEMORIAM ALPHONSE CAMPBELL FORDHAM, by MARY WESTON FORDHAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Yes, my darling, when life's shadows
Last Line: "surely at the ""gates of gold."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


IN MEMORIAM: FOR MY DAUGHTER, by ANN B. KNOX    Poem Source                    
First Line: Before you fade
Last Line: What force it takes %to separate my hands %from that sweet pull
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN MEMORY OF A CHILD, by LENA LONDON CHARNEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: For eight years
Last Line: Daffodils, %dandelions, %nurtured by %the unseen brook
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN MEMORY, DECEMBER 1984, by FELICIA MITCHELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: All this week I dream of john henry
Last Line: In a year orwell only dreamed of, %before he knew he never would
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, CHESTERTON, CAMBRIDGE (1797), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Near this place lies interred %anna maria vassa
Last Line: But she is gone and dwells in that abode %where some of every clime shall joy in god
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN THE ABSENCE OF YELLOW, by REVA SHARON    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is summer and it is quiet
Last Line: Here in terezin %wings the color of rust %are fluttering
Subject(s): Death - Children; Jews


IN THE CHURCH AT ST. IVES, HUNTINGDONSHIRE, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Bold infidelity, turn pale and die!
Last Line: They died, for adam sinned - they live, for jesus died
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN THE HOSPITAL, by NAOMI REPLANSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: She sits in her strong middle age
Last Line: And weakness holds him where there is %no exchange of hostages
Subject(s): Death - Children


IN THE NIGHT, by SAROJINI NAIDU    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep, o my little ones, sleep
Last Line: Rich with the tears that we weep.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Sleep; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


IN THE SHADOWS: 13, by DAVID GRAY (1838-1861)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And, well-beloved, is this all, this all?
Last Line: O heart! Be merciful -- I loved him utterly.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


INFELICE, by BELLE RICHARDSON HARRISON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They say the skies are tinted blue
Last Line: Ah, woe is me!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


INFERTILITY, by SYLVIA GIROUX RELATION    Poem Source                    
First Line: We no longer make love
Subject(s): Death - Children


IRASCIBLE DISTINCT MIST PEEKS THROUGH THE CREVICES OF THE GARDEN, by MARJORIE AGOSIN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Hope? Who has not seen a child hiding behind a tree trunk?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Disappeared Persons - Argentina; Human Rights - Argentina


IS THERE TIME TO COMPOSE?, by SAMUEL RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I feel an old man in me
Last Line: Hoping that beethoven did not compose %the last great symphony
Subject(s): Death - Children


ISATOU DIED, by LENRIE PETERS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Who spilt the perfume %mixed with morning dew?'
Subject(s): Death - Children


ISOBEL'S CHILD, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To rest the weary nurse has gone
Last Line: In his broad, loving will.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Dreams; Women; Heaven; Mothers; Longing; Death - Babies; Nightmares; Paradise


IT IS WELL, by LUCY H. HOOPER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Twas a low grave they led me to, o'ergrown
Last Line: "above that quiet refuge -- ""it is well."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


IT'S REAL / IT'S OVER, by DAYBO    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


ITALIAN EXTRAVAGANZA, by GREGORY NUNZIO CORSO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Mrs. Lombardi's month-old son is dead
Last Line: And ten black cadillacs to haul it in
Alternate Author Name(s): Corso, Gregory
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals


JAHNA CHRISTINE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your headstone %is not
Last Line: See your %name carved %in stone
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


JAZZ FOR HOMEBOY, by G. TIMOTHY GORDON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Akron in heat
Last Line: How sweet kevin snell (found in fall %river) kneads the twine %with a soft left claw
Subject(s): Death - Children


JOHANNES, by TOMAZ SALAMUN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Who opens the nose of the compost? Pranajama
Last Line: Where bobrowski used to rest
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; Funerals; Graves


JOURNEY'S END, by NICHOLAS SCHAFFNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: A hush falls upon the buildings; the lamps wink off one by
Last Line: May they slumber in the wondrous light once more
Subject(s): Death - Children


KERIN, by MARIELLE JOY COHEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: So she was born
Subject(s): Death - Children


KERIN YOU DESERVE, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


KEVIN, by SYLVIA GIROUX RELATION    Poem Source                    
First Line: In winter your skate blades swished in the rink
Last Line: Your seasons pressed with twisted metal, %your shoe sounds now silent on our steps
Subject(s): Death - Children


KNEELING ON A DECEPTIVE MATTRESS, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
Last Line: They say there's skating on the pond in winter %but I just say %no
Subject(s): Death - Children


LAMENT, by CHARLES KINGSLEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The merry merry lark was up and singing
Last Line: Sleeps sound till the bell brings me.
Variant Title(s): The Merry Lark
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LAMENT, by CAROLE VOPAT    Poem Source                    
First Line: The disease that soiled your immaculate body
Last Line: Peter, how I wish you were %on your way to a fish dinner at the anchorage!
Subject(s): Death - Children


LAMENT FOR A LITTLE CHILD, by RODEN BERKELEY WRIOTHESLEY NOEL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am lying in the tomb, love
Last Line: O my little child!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Lament; Mothers; Death - Babies


LAMENT FOR GOLDEN GOURD, JIN-HU, by CAO ZHI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Caressed and nursed in swaddling clothes
Last Line: But a time will come when I go with you
Subject(s): China - Song Dynasty (960-1278); Death - Children


LAMENT FOR SION Y GLYN, by LEWYS GLYN COTHI    Poem Source                    
First Line: One son was my darling-dwynwen!
Last Line: And farewell, my cheery friend, %buried while I live, sion my son
Subject(s): Death - Children


LAMENT FOR TADHG CRONIN'S CHILDREN, by AOGAN O RATHAILLE                        Poet's Biography
First Line: That day the sails of the ship were torn
Alternate Author Name(s): O Rathaille, Aodhagan
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


LAMENT FOR TADHG CRONIN'S CHILDREN, by AOGAN O RATHAILLE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That day the sails of the ship were torn
Last Line: My heart cries - %for the three dead children
Alternate Author Name(s): O Rathaille, Aodhagan
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning


LAST LESSONS, by JOANNE LOWERY    Poem Source                    
First Line: After weeks of planning
Last Line: And the first secret of the dead %is a shrill horn full of everything
Subject(s): Death - Children


LATER I'LL SAY, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Listening to %my body breaking
Subject(s): Abortion; Childlessness; Death - Children


LEARNING, by S. W. BLISS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like a girl and her favorite doll
Subject(s): Death - Children


LEONAINIE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Leonainie - angels named her
Last Line: From me like a dream.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; God; Summer; Death - Babies


LETTER FROM MEXICO, by EDOUARD JOACHIM CORBIERE    Poem Text                    
First Line: You gave the youngster into my care. - he's dead
Last Line: "a soldier. An old salt."
Alternate Author Name(s): Corbiere, Tristan
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sailing & Sailors; Death - Babies; Seamen; Sails


LETTER FROM MEXICO, by EDOUARD JOACHIM CORBIERE    Poem Text                    
First Line: You put the kid in my care. He's dead
Last Line: "a soldier. An old salt."
Alternate Author Name(s): Corbiere, Tristan
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sailing & Sailors; Death - Babies; Seamen; Sails


LETTER TO CAREL FABRITIUS, SEPTEMBER 1643, by STEPHEN FRECH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I groan when I think of you in that low spot
Last Line: Oh, carel, your loss winters the night
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief


LETTICE, by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Little lettice is dead, they say
Last Line: On the hills, and no longer rue her!
Alternate Author Name(s): Field, Michael (with Edith Emma Cooper)
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LIFE AFTER SIDS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: How I felt
Last Line: She belongs to me %and she is going to live!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


LIFE AND DEATH, by PATRICIA FILLINGHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Maria is a displaced person
Subject(s): Death - Children


LIFT ME HIGHER, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lift me higher! Lift me higher! / from this sphere of earthly dross
Last Line: "lifted higher"" -- than life's cares."
Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


LINES ON THE DEATH OF BABY, by B. H.    Poem Source                    
First Line: One little bud the less
Subject(s): Death - Children


LINES ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON CHARLES, by DANIEL WEBSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My son, thou wast my heart's delight
Last Line: My son! My father! Guide me there.
Variant Title(s): On The Death Of My Son Charles
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sons; Death - Babies


LINES TO A YOUNG MOTHER, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Young mother! What can feeble friendship say
Last Line: And laid my first-born in the silent tomb.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


LITTLE JIM, by EDWARD FARMER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The cottage was a thatch'd one
Last Line: In heaven, once more to meet again, %their own poor little jim
Subject(s): Coal Mines And Miners; Death - Children


LITTLE JOHNNY, by ELIZABETH DOTEN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sing not, o blessed angels!
Last Line: "and helpers of their joy."
Alternate Author Name(s): Doten, Lizzie
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Graves; Love; Sympathy; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Empathy


LITTLE MATTIE, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dead! Thirteen a month ago!
Last Line: Rather than such angels, lord!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LITTLE NO-NAME, by LYNNE CHENEY-ROSE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Come away with me
Subject(s): Death - Children


LITTLE NORA, OR THE PORTRAIT, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I ask'd of little nora, but he drew
Last Line: Still nursed her pile of summer-wreaths and smiled.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LONE CHILDER, by AGNES ITA HANRAHAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: When the wind was soft sobbin' the night
Last Line: For to hush where lone childer had died!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Solitude; Death - Babies; Loneliness


LONELY CABIN, by JOHN A. SIMPSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Some say the cabin fell almost apart
Last Line: After she found her son.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Despair; Mothers & Sons; Murder; Death - Babies


LONG DISTANCE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We moved away
Last Line: Or was that bench on state street %okay with you today...?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


LONG SILENT, by JENNIFER GARRETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Walking on the edge
Last Line: Of the world's absences, %and looking for a door %to the long silent
Subject(s): Death - Children


LONGING FOR HIS SON, FURUHI, by YAMANOUE NO OKURA    Poem Source                    
First Line: What value to me the seven kinds of treasures
Last Line: Show him the way to heaven
Alternate Author Name(s): Yamamoue Okura; Okura
Subject(s): Death - Children


LOST AND SAVED, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When thou wert born into the world
Last Line: In happier skies than ours!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LOST BABY POEM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The time I dropped your almost body down
Last Line: My life will keep silent %listening to %my body breaking
Subject(s): Abortion; African Americans - Women; Death - Children


LOST CHILD, by HANNAH ALEXANDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: They harvested their love
Last Line: He was the one they lost %...Their grasshopper child
Subject(s): Death - Children


LOST MORNING, by FRANZ DOUSKEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: You sleep with your hands
Subject(s): Death - Children


LOWLANDS LOW, by KENNETH LESLIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What can be better than to let the screen of years
Last Line: Remembering.
Subject(s): Boys; Death - Children; Past; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Death - Babies; Seamen; Sails; Ocean


LUCY (5), by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three years she grew in sun and shower
Last Line: And never more will be.
Variant Title(s): The Education Of Nature;four Natural Women
Subject(s): Death - Children; Nature; Death - Babies


LULLABY, by HARRIET MONROE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My little one, sleep softly
Last Line: Together--I and you.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


LULLABY FOR MY DEAD CHILD, by DENISE JALLAIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You shouldn't be afraid of the dark
Last Line: To console you for being little %and dead
Subject(s): Death - Children


LYNTON VERSES: 6. SYMPHONY, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We saw her die, and she is dead
Last Line: Dove, blackbird, goldfinch, larch!
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Birds; Death - Children; Jesus Christ; Sisters; Spring; Death - Babies


MAMA, by FELICIA MITCHELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: I had to hunt her down
Last Line: You come into this world alone.'
Subject(s): Death - Children


MAMMA DIN'T RAISE NO FOOLS, by REBECCA WOLFF    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He died before we could honor
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MAN, by OSCAR HAHN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Out of waters warm
Last Line: Are the dead
Subject(s): Death - Children


MARGUERITE, by PATRICIA BEVAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My cousin marguerite
Last Line: The darkness, mother %no one listens for my name %anymore
Subject(s): Death - Children


MARY BURKE, by AGNES ITA HANRAHAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Och! Shure 'tis well I mind the day
Last Line: Mary burke—mary burke!
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Dreams; Heaven; Love; Death - Babies; Nightmares; Paradise


MARY HAMILTON (VERSION A), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Word's gane to the kitchen
Last Line: There was marie seton, and marie beton, %and marie carmichael, and me
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death - Children; Guilt; Mary, Queen Of Scots (1542-1587)


MARY HAMILTON (VERSION B), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: There were ladies, they lived in a bower
Last Line: Ye should na shamed me here
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death - Children; Guilt; Mary, Queen Of Scots (1542-1587)


MARY RUANE, by JAMES STEPHENS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The sky-like girl that we knew!
Last Line: Unweariedly!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MATERNAL GRIEF, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Departed child! I could forget thee once
Last Line: Immortal as the love that gave it being.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


MATTHEW SCHNELL, by RODNEY TORRESON    Poem Source                    
First Line: In high school he quit them all
Last Line: To the family fold, smiling, waving a hand now, %calling from the blue skies of his brain
Subject(s): Death - Children


MAUREEN, by AGNES ITA HANRAHAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ay, yonder the thrushes is pipin' now
Last Line: Maureen—maureen!
Subject(s): Absence; Death - Children; Flowers; Girls; Graves; Heaven; Roses; Separation; Isolation; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


MAYBE ITS WAS THE BARS OF YOUR CRIB, by JULIE MCNEILL    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


MEDEA: SPEECH OF THE CHORUS, by EURIPIDES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O haggard queen! To athens dost thou guide
Last Line: Perish when thy victims bleed.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MELANCHOLY; AN ODE, by WILLIAM BROOME    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Adieu, vain mirth, and noisy joys
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MERRY CHRISTMAS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Couldn't we skip
Last Line: And I don't %feel like celebrating
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


MICHAEL F.M. ROSSETTI (APRIL 22, 1881 - JANUARY 24, 1883), by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A holy innocent gone home
Last Line: On heavenly banks.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Spring; Time; Death - Babies; Paradise


MILENA WILETT; I YR. OLD, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thy mother strives in patient trust
Last Line: Her baby's sleeping now
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Mothers And Daughters; Women


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 1, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Have dark egyptians stolen thee away
Last Line: In changeless baby loveliness still there.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 10, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis christmas, and we gaze with downbent head
Last Line: In the dim nursery that men call death!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 11, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How patiently they did their work of old
Last Line: In sunrise tints on memory's missal page.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 12, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is the season when the elves of spring
Last Line: And the wild tulips on the grassy shelves!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 13, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now florence fills her lap with buds of may
Last Line: "of sun and rain, of smile and sorrow born."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Florence, Italy; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 14, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O pale pressed rose-bud in the book of death
Last Line: O'er his inscrutable angelic face.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 15, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you remember how, with fancy's hand
Last Line: The eye-lids sealed in pale seraphic rest!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 16, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O little ship that passed us in the night
Last Line: And she was gone; and we were left behind.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 17, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you recall the scents, the insect whirr
Last Line: Which now, god knows, is hidden but too well.
Variant Title(s): Sonnet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 18, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lo, through the open window of the room
Last Line: And watch it breathless, lest it should be she.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 19, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What alchemy is thine, o little child
Last Line: Shrines in its sanctuaries while ages flow.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 2, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Two springs she saw - two radiant tuscan springs
Last Line: We, left alone, shall seek one bud in vain.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 20, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What essences from idumean palm
Last Line: Obliterate the rolls of human fame.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 3, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If we could know the silent shapes that pass
Last Line: Of vast and lifeless seas in the beyond?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 4, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, rosy as the lining of a shell
Last Line: To wake the sleep-struck playground of the dead.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 5, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What wast thou, little baby, that art dead
Last Line: Enough for us, thou wast thy baby self.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 6, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, bless the law that veils the future's face
Last Line: Its footing, and fall headlong from to-day.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 7, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mantled in purple dusk, imperial death
Last Line: "now let the little children come to me."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 8, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One day, I mind me, now that she is dead
Last Line: That leave the shores that are for those that seem!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: 9, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O brook that fell too soon into the sea
Last Line: In death's dim ocean that before us lay.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MIMMA BELLA; IN MEMORY OF A LITTLE LIFE: SONNET, by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis march; and on the hills that stretch away
Last Line: Intone in march, as did their antique sires.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Florence, Italy; Death - Babies


MISCARRIAGE, by PETER COOLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: There was no talking
Subject(s): Death - Children


MISCARRIAGE, by LOUISE H. S. FORSHAW    Poem Source                    
First Line: The lights that shine by night
Subject(s): Death - Children


MISERABLE SINNER, by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am a child of chance with a window brush
Last Line: I draw power. I walk barefoot
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Death - Children; Murder; Pregnancy; Rape; Sin


MISERY AND COMPANY, by BARRI ARMITAGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Their idea sounded good--reduce grief
Last Line: His book to the poem I'd wept for, %and walked in his direction
Subject(s): Death - Children


MISPLACEMENT, by GAIL GHAI    Poem Source                    
First Line: This morning cleaning the study
Last Line: Till it finally braked %into a silent stop %of release
Subject(s): Death - Children


MISS AUGUST, by KAREN RICKENBACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: She sleeps in a green place
Last Line: When a morning milk truck %changed destiny to oblivion %there was no laughter
Subject(s): Death - Children


MODERN LOVE: 11, by GEORGE MEREDITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Out in the yellow meadows, where the bee
Last Line: Is lying a dead infant, slain by thee.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MOM, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sam and sapphina and wini and wes
Last Line: I was mom, seldom dad, and grieve now %as only a mom could, mid-morning
Subject(s): Death - Children


MONUMENT IN ISLEHAM CHURCH TO BARBARY THIMBLETHORPE, 1619, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Whoso ear chance for to behould this tombe
Last Line: Then let this tombe to all be a merror %to tel us life is but breath to trust in error
Subject(s): Death - Children


MONUMENT TO MRS. HOWARD, BY NOLLEKENS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Stretched on the dying mother's lap, lies dead
Last Line: And pain, hath powers to eternity endeared.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Nollekens, Joseph (1737-1823); Sculpture & Sculptors; Death - Babies


MORGUE: 2. LOVELY CHILDHOOD, by GOTTFRIED BENN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                
First Line: The mouth of a girl who had long lain among the reeds looked gnawed away
Last Line: Oh, how the little muzzles squeaked!
Subject(s): Autopsies; Death - Children; Expressionism - Poets; Morgues; Death - Babies


MOTHER, by HANNAH ALEXANDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were my child, my own
Last Line: Your imperfections humored %and life shall never find us out again
Subject(s): Death - Children


MOTHER, by JOANNE SELTZER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Four times I opened wide and life emerged
Subject(s): Death - Children


MOTHER AND POET; TURIN, AFTER THE NEWS FROM GAETA, 1861, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dead! One of them shot by the sea in the east
Last Line: Let none look at me!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Italy; Mothers; Savio, Laura; Death - Babies; Italians


MOTHER AS SHITWORKER, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: After bearing elle I watched them hand her over
Last Line: Not again and again %but once and for all
Subject(s): Death - Children


MOTIF, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: On the garret sleeps the roof
Last Line: In its crib by the mold'ring wall
Subject(s): Babies;death - Children;rest; Infants;death - Babies


MOURNING FOR MY ELDEST DAUGHTER ZHAOQI [WANWAN], by SHEN YIXIU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stored your clothes in the chest, but who would wear them?
Last Line: By the ge river we will exchange smiles, fortuitously met
Subject(s): Death - Children; Reincarnation


MY BABY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I feel like
Last Line: Like some ole' %love affair
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


MY BABY! MY BABY! THEY'VE TOLD ME HE IS DEAD, by MARY ANN BROWNE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: As again it echoeth the words, 'my child, my child is dead!'
Alternate Author Name(s): Gray, James, Mrs.; Gray, Mary Anne Browne
Subject(s): Death - Children


MY BOY, by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I had a little bird once
Last Line: And wish that I were dead.
Alternate Author Name(s): Chandler, Ellen Louise
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MY BOY JACK, by RUDYARD KIPLING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Have you heard the news of my boy jack?
Last Line: And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning; Death - Babies


MY CHILD, by LISA LENZO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your birthday is coming again
Last Line: My child, I wanted to follow you %when your eyes closed on the world %I reentered without you
Subject(s): Death - Children


MY CHILD, by JOHN PIERPONT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot make him dead!
Last Line: T will be our heaven to find, that - he is there!
Subject(s): Consolation; Death - Children; Death - Babies


MY DEAD, by SONDRA UPHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: November again
Last Line: I accept this, too, %that a child can die
Subject(s): Death - Children


MY DREAM GIRL, by PATRICK MACGILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like a flower in the mist of the moorland, spectral, / shadowy
Last Line: The flower in the mist of the moorland, lonesome and shadowy.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Imagination; Love; Solitude; Youth; Death - Babies; Fancy; Loneliness


MY FRIEND, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My friend %lets me
Last Line: I just %hope I %listen enough %to her
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


MY LIFE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My sweet baby
Last Line: My dreams %my world %my life
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


MY OBSTETRICIAN, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: He brought %me down
Last Line: Reduced to %tears I %want to %be sick
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


MY PRETTY CHILD, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mo paistin deas, I did not know
Last Line: And knew how far god's gardens are.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


MY SISTER'S FUNERAL, by GERALD STERN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Since there was no mother for the peach tree we did it
Subject(s): Sisters; Death - Children; Funerals; Grief; Death - Babies; Burials; Sorrow; Sadness


MY THREE YEAR OLD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My %three year old
Last Line: He wouldn't need %my undivided %attention
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


NEW YEAR'S EVE, by JANICE BURRES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Wrapped in blankets
Last Line: It's midnight, 1980 %and silvie is dead
Subject(s): Death - Children


NICOLETTE, by CHARLOTTE INEZ    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


NIGHT GLASS, by JOAN MCMILLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Almost a year now since the man
Last Line: I watch them press at the window for hours, %feel them tap out a frantic untranslatable code
Subject(s): Death - Children


NIGHT HE DIED, by LINDA PORTNAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: At eighteen years old
Last Line: Like the sundial in the yard, marking time %beside epaulets of goldenrod
Subject(s): Death - Children


NIGHTMARE BEGINS RESPONSIBILITY, by MICHAEL S. HARPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I place these numbed wrists to the pane
Last Line: Nightmare begins responsibilit
Subject(s): Death - Children; Racism; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


NINE STONES: 1. JENNIFER TINNING (12-26-71 TO 1-3-72), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were the first to feel the soft pillow
Last Line: Gone from the planet, synapses, ligaments freed
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 2. JOSEPH TINNING (1-10-70 TO 1-20-72), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were a cap of bells, a fold at the end
Last Line: You were saturday night after calamity
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 3. BARBARA TINNING (5-31-67 TO 3-2-72), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I aided nurses, drove the school bus. Now
Last Line: A flea market tip for her sneaking suspicion
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 4. TIMOTHY TINNING (11-21-73 TO 12-10-73), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Suspicion is not a mysterious disease
Last Line: His head. Every funeral is a party
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 5. NATHAN TINNING (3-30-75 TO 9-2-75), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two minutes of force while your father sleeps
Last Line: Even my hair casts its shadow
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 6. MICHAEL TINNING ADOPTED (8-3-78 TO 3-2-81), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not even your mixed skin could keep you
Last Line: Gaze at your open casket, overstuffed with toys
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 7. MARY FRANCIS TINNING (10-29-78 TO 2-22-79), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The apnea monitor, left in the armchair
Last Line: On platters of baked cookies, in ham casseroles
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINE STONES: 8. JONATHAN TINNING (11-19-79 TO 3-24-80), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were the proof of someone's backseat
Last Line: That's what we need. Duct tape
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder; Pregnancy


NINE STONES: 9. TAMI LYNNE TINNING (8-22-85 TO 12-20-85), by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: No root to a spring frost. No proof
Last Line: From elysium has left her dower of resin
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Murder


NINETY-EIGHT DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I realized today
Last Line: I have to %cover it up %more and more
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


NO CONDOLENCES, by A. K. BAUMGARD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Grey head bent, fingering pearls
Last Line: This world is the cross on which we're hung
Subject(s): Death - Children


NO MORE BIRTHDAY PARTIES, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We buried her
Last Line: That she %wouldn't be going %to anymore %birthday parties
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


NOBODY WANTED TO LISTEN TO ME: NOBODY WANTED TO KNOW, by LORI BROWN PATRICK    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


NOT LEAVING THIS CITY, by SAMUEL RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Countless skylines have faded at my heels
Last Line: Your lights are stronger than time itself, %and I have found my home
Subject(s): Death - Children


NOW IT'S HARD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: To get through the first day of school %to get through the day
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


OCTOBER 30TH, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Fall is %here - winter
Last Line: She only %died two %months ago
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


OF MY DEAR SON [GERVASE BEAUMONT], by JOHN BEAUMONT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Can I, who have for others oft compiled
Last Line: How to this port at every step I go.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mourning; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Bereavement


OH, BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, by KRSTINE OSBAKKEN    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON A CHILD, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Child of a day, thou knowest not
Last Line: Thou wilt not ever see her weep.
Variant Title(s): To A Dead Child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


ON A DAUGHTER'S DEATH BY SUICIDE, by JULIE COOPER FRATRIK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even the silent ones
Last Line: Only you've come later, %will leave sooner, %aware always %that this earth %was not your place
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON A DEAD CHILD, by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Perfect little body, without fault or stain on thee
Last Line: And the things we have seen and have known and have heard of, fail us.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bridges, Robert+(2)
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON A NUN, by JACOPO VITTORELLI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of two fair virgins, modest, though admired
Last Line: And knock, and knock, and knock -- but none replies.
Alternate Author Name(s): Vittorelli, Iacop
Variant Title(s): Sonnet On A Nun
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Nuns; Death - Babies


ON A TWIN AT TWO YEARS OLD DEAD OF A CONSUMPTION, by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Death! Thou such a one hast smit
Last Line: If he be dead or flown away.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, William Of Tavistock
Subject(s): Death - Children; Tuberculosis; Death - Babies; Consumption (pathology)


ON AN INFANT, by SAMUEL WESLEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beneath, a sleeping infant lies
Last Line: "had been as short as thine."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Epitaphs; Death - Babies


ON AN INFANT WHICH DIED BEFORE BAPTISM, by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Be, rather than be called, a child of god'
Last Line: Possessor, not inheritor.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Worship; Death - Babies


ON AN INFANT'S DEATH, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: A little life
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails
Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry & Poets; Death - Babies


ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM FOR 1979, by JACK A. MAPANJE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Without kings and warriors occasional verse fails
Last Line: The year of the child must make no difference then %where tadpoles are never allowed to grow into fr
Subject(s): Africa; Death - Children; Poetry And Poets


ON CHRISTMAS EVE, by ZOE KINCAID BROCKMAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: When he was gone, and christ mass came to mary
Last Line: To see this night a star and not a cross!
Subject(s): Christmas; Death - Children; Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Mothers; Women In The Bible; Nativity, The; Death - Babies; Virgin Mary


ON MY BOY HENRY, by JANE CAVENDISH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here lyes a boy ye finest child from me
Last Line: I mourne not for thy birth, nor cry.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Hearts; Soul; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here lies to each her parents' ruth
Last Line: Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
Variant Title(s): Epitaph On My First Daughter
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Parents; Death - Babies; Parenthood


ON READING IN A NEWSPAPER THE DEATH OF A MOTHER AND THREE CHILDREN, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Again, my soul, sustain the mournful page!
Last Line: Frail is our knowledge, frailer is our bliss.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEAD, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou in this wide cold church art laid
Last Line: Death follows with uplifted dart.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Consolation; Death - Children; Graveyards; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD, by HUGO MUNSTERBERG    Poem Text                    
First Line: Dear child, now you have gone to sleep so gently
Last Line: Is truly blessed.
Alternate Author Name(s): Terberg, Hugo
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD, by EDWARD S. SILVERA    Poem Text                    
First Line: You came like the dawn
Last Line: So you stole away in the dark.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD, by JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You came, you went, as angels go
Last Line: Forth from god's hand into god's hand.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A DAUGHTER, by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis o'er, - in that long sigh she past
Last Line: "the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Ingoldsby, Thomas
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH, by JOHN MILTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O fairest flower no sooner blown but blasted
Last Line: That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Plague; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND'S CHILD, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Death never came so nigh to me before
Last Line: Doth waken thy beloved with a kiss.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Religion; Death - Babies; Theology


ON THE DEATH OF A HIGHLY GIFTED AND PRECOCIOUS CHILD, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Too fair, too pale, too pure and wise
Last Line: Heaven took what it had lent.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A LITTLE CHILD, by ROYALL TYLER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Well did the holy prophet say
Last Line: To gather infant buds to heaven!
Alternate Author Name(s): Old Simon; S.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL, by EVARISTE DE PARNY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Scaping from childhood, still a child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Youth; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis difficult to feel that she is dead
Last Line: In its most ravishing sweetness rudely broken.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT, by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sweet child, and hast thou gone, for ever fled!
Last Line: "and murmur not at your great father's will."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT, by DIRK SMITS    Poem Text                    
First Line: A host of angels flying
Last Line: But left the shell on earth.
Variant Title(s): Death Of An Infant
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Childhood; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT, by MARGARET LOUISA WOODS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Alas! The little child is dead
Last Line: And love and mortal fate.
Alternate Author Name(s): Woods, Mrs. Margaret Louisa Bradley
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT OF FIVE DAYS OLD, by ELIZABETH BOYD    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: How frail is human life! How fleet our breath
Last Line: And the shocked father tear for tear return.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON, by LEWIS GLYN COTHI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: One son was a jewel to me
Last Line: Farewell, whilst I live below, %my mercy darling, my sion
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON, by CHARLES WESLEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dead! Dead! The child I lov'd so well!
Last Line: To waft, and welcome us to land
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON VINCENT, by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Waking at morn, with the accustomed sigh
Last Line: That mocked the will to move it
Alternate Author Name(s): Hunt, Leigh
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON THE DEATH OF J.C., AN INFANT, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: No more the flow'ry scenes of pleasure rise
Last Line: Not at your bar must sov'reign wisdom stand.
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love - Loss Of; Mortality; Death - Babies


ON THE DEATH OF MY CHILD, by JAMES REYNOLDS WITHERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My child, thou art gone, thou art taken away
Last Line: And blessed for ever be the name of the lord
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON THE DEATH OF THE POET'S DAUGHTER SATO, by KOBAYASHI ISSA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The world of dew
Last Line: And yet
Alternate Author Name(s): Issa; Issa
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON THE DEATH OF THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF MR. JAMES MUIR, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair garden of my life, my children's home
Last Line: "where blossoms never die—"" to heaven our home."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Heaven; Mourning; Death - Babies; Paradise; Bereavement


ON THE DEATH OF TWO LITTLE CHILDREN, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Bitter chance! No hand the blow could ward!
Last Line: And one low funeral bell shall bring ye home!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


ON THE INFANTICIDE, by BERTOLT BRECHT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Marie farrar. Birthdate: april
Last Line: So, I beg you, don't be angry at her. %each creature needs the help of every other
Subject(s): Death - Children; Murder


ON THE RECURRENCE OF GRIEF, by FAITH WILLIAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: So, what's it like?
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON TURNING THIRTY, by DAVID HALL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Five years later
Last Line: Spring %and your son %blossom without you
Subject(s): Death - Children


ON TWO DAUGHTERS, AND A SON DYING AT BIRTH, OF ROGER ASHTON, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here reader see
Last Line: It glads my heart %their better part %is now with god, never to part
Subject(s): Death - Children


ONE MORN I LEFT HIM IN HIS BED, by ELIZABETH DREW (BARSTOW) STODDARD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: A grief - your and my universe!
Alternate Author Name(s): Stoddard, Richard, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death - Children


OPERATION, by WILLIAM E. PASSERA    Poem Source                    
First Line: American flag %blowing taps
Last Line: Advancing %melts from view
Subject(s): Death - Children


ORINDA UPON LITTLE HECTOR PHILIPS, by KATHERINE PHILIPS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twice forty months of wedlock I did stay
Last Line: The last of thy unhappy mothers verse.
Alternate Author Name(s): Orinda
Variant Title(s): On The Death Of My First And Dearest Child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Loss; Tears; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


OUR DEAREST CHILD, OUR DEAREST LOVE CHILD, by ? DAVIDSON    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


OUR VISIT, by LEO WIENER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In a few weeks it
Last Line: And return it to you %each in our way %through memory
Subject(s): Death - Children


OUTING, by MAUREEN MCNEIL    Poem Source                    
First Line: This road held romance
Last Line: When he could not bear to close %his eyes, his final triumph, peace %was found in falling snow
Subject(s): Death - Children


OVER THAT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Aren't you %over that
Last Line: Over that? %over her? %no
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


OVERFLOW, by JOAN MCMILLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Breaking through leaves, the tip of winter
Last Line: Like the memory of his life %knotted to mine, %overflowing this silence, drenching the roots
Subject(s): Death - Children


PAINFUL WISDOM, by MARSHA BEHREND    Poem Source                    
First Line: The emptiness fills me
Last Line: I sat alone, %defenseless before a jury of one) %clutching an emptiness %tight %against my breasts
Subject(s): Death - Children


PATCH AV GREEN AN' FIELD AV CORN, by AGNES ITA HANRAHAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ay, a field av goold corn jist ferenst a wee green
Last Line: For wee childer's all ris up an' reapin' the day!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Play; Roses; Death - Babies


PATTY, 1949-1961, by SHARON MAYER LIBERA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Buried under a flat stone, but beside
Last Line: Go flower child, in peace bloom free
Subject(s): Death - Children


PERSEVERING BOW STRING WHO NEVER FAILS TO RETURN WITH GAME, by MOSES IGO OWULOH    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Leopard was thrown into incessant cry of lamentation!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Igede (african People); Mourning


PHOTOGRAPH (25 JANUARY 1945), by JOHN F. DEANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Though released your return
Last Line: Your soul make invisible circles about me?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Memory; Photography And Photographers; Pictures


PILGRIMAGE, by ELIZABETH WILCOX BEASLEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: A score of years had passed since they had laid
Last Line: And scarlet poppies, swaying with each breeze.)
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


PINING FOR HIS SON FURULI, by YAMANOUE NO OKURA    Poem Source                    
First Line: The seven treasures
Last Line: Teach him the way to heaven
Alternate Author Name(s): Yamamoue Okura; Okura
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning


PITCHING A SOFTBALL WITH MY DAUGHTER, by MARITA GARIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: She can't believe her luck, her choice
Subject(s): Death - Children


PLACENTA PREVIA, by KATHARINE AUCHINLOSS LORR    Poem Source                    
First Line: This one, inside, that cups a fetus (bone)
Subject(s): Death - Children


PLANTING, by JEAN HOLLANDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I hold the clay, wet with this morning's rain
Subject(s): Death - Children


PLAYING WITH FIRE, by ELIZABETH TURNER (1755-1846)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The friends of little mary green
Last Line: Again, before she died!
Subject(s): Accidents; Death - Children; Fire; Girls; Play; Death - Babies


PLAYMATES, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: That is your little playmate, jane
Last Line: Would any child not die!'
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


POEM CALLED GEORGE, SOMETIMES, by ROLAND FLINT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Before he died, my son made up this poem
Last Line: You in your poem, but it's made me see I'm going to have to %write that poem I do not want to write,
Subject(s): Death - Children


POEM FOR A THIRD DAUGHTER, by JULIE COOPER FRATRIK    Poem Source                    
First Line: The v-birds of children's drawings make no sound, have
Last Line: This is the third daughter's song. %the son has no refrain
Subject(s): Death - Children


POEM FOR ANTHONY MILANO, by JANET MASON    Poem Source                    
First Line: There is that bar, the edgely inn
Last Line: You who I have never met; you who have nothing %to do with my life %except everything
Subject(s): Death - Children


POEM FOR MARVIN NAIRIN, by BARRY SPACKS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Marvin nairin died at twelve, no one would say from what
Last Line: Always back to you back then, %marvin nairin
Subject(s): Death - Children; Memory; Mourning


POEMS ON DEATH OF THREE CHILDREN .. WITHIN A MONTH: HENRY, by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Yellow leaves, how fast they flutter -- woodland hollows thickly strewing
Last Line: Into endless day for you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Loss


POEMS ON DEATH OF THREE CHILDREN .. WITHIN A MONTH: KATIE, by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All rough winds are hushed and silent, golden light the meadow steepth
Last Line: Ay, forever -- evermore!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Loss


POEMS ON DEATH OF THREE CHILDREN .. WITHIN A MONTH: SAMUEL, by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They have left you, little henry, but they have not left you lonely
Last Line: Into endless day for you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Loss


POINT GUARD, by JOHN WESSELLS ATTHOWE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Feet, a hummingbird's wings
Last Line: He is me in my lofty green valley of %glacier fed springs; sunlit, airy, unseen
Subject(s): Death - Children


POISONOUS FRUIT, by ELIZABETH TURNER (1755-1846)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As tommy and his sister jane
Last Line: Again along the shady lane.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Poisons And Poisoning; Death - Babies


POOR LITTLE JOE, by DAVID LAW PROUDFIT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Prop yer eyes wide open, joey
Last Line: O, my god! Can joe be dead!
Alternate Author Name(s): Arkwright, Pegleg
Subject(s): Child Labor; Death - Children; Death - Babies


POST CARD FROM NEWBLISS, by DAISY FRIEDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've come here for a different landscape
Last Line: I shall want to take a little sip of you
Subject(s): Death - Children


POST PARTUM BLUES, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've got the blues today
Last Line: I feel %the gap %between my children %of a little girl %I'llnever raise
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


PRAYER, by HWANG KUMCHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lord god! %a tiny soul has just left
Last Line: Please love the little soul more
Subject(s): Death - Children


PRAYER, by EDWARD BLISS REED    Poem Text                    
First Line: She cannot tell my name / nor whence I came
Last Line: When my child's call I hear, I catch her to my heart.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Love; Prayer; Death - Babies


PREGNANT / FOR THOSE FEW LATE DAYS, by FLORENCE ANN KOZAK    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


PREMATURE BABY, by RACHEL GUIDO DEVRIES    Poem Source                    
First Line: And she wanted that baby to live
Subject(s): Death - Children


PREMONITION, by ARTHUR THOMAS QUILLER-COUCH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She sat upon the cottage stair
Last Line: Her eyes might never look.
Alternate Author Name(s): Q; Quiller-couch, A. T.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


PREPARATORY MEDITATIONS, 2D SERIES: 40, by EDWARD TAYLOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Under thy rod, my god, thy smarting rod
Last Line: My musick shall thy praises sweetly bring.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Puritans In Literature; Death - Babies


PRETTY EYES, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My little girl
Last Line: Never agian %to see those...Pretty eyes
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


PROMISE OF YOU, by JUDITH EDELSTEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I feasted on dreams
Subject(s): Death - Children


PROVENCAL LEGEND, by WILLA SIBERT CATHER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On his little grave and wild
Last Line: Play-time to that martyr child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Provence, France


PUT IT BEHIND YOU, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Now %now %why
Last Line: I %put %my %dead %child %behind %me
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


RAINY DAY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember %the first day it rained
Last Line: With a baby who was buried in the ground
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


RED, by KYLA MEGAN ADAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: In one red black thunderous burst
Last Line: We hold hands never letting go
Subject(s): Death - Children


REDWOODS, by GAGE MCKINNEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Summer mornings we sat
Last Line: I leave the buckets %hanging from a nail
Subject(s): Death - Children


REFLECTIONS, by JOHN HENRY MITCHELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: On dead grey nights I sit alone
Last Line: Licks his paws, pads off on soft feet, %and never glances back
Subject(s): Death - Children


REFLETS DANS L'EAU, by MARSHA BEHREND    Poem Source                    
First Line: The magic sounds of water, clear as light
Last Line: Although my dream, with water, rushes on
Subject(s): Death - Children


REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF A CHILD IN LONDON, by DYLAN THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Never until the mankind making
Last Line: After the first death, there is no other
Subject(s): Air Warfare; Death - Children; Fire; Innocence; Mourning; World War Ii


REMEMBERING GOLDEN BELLS, by PO CHU-YI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ruined and ill, - a man of two score
Last Line: Because, in the road, I met her foster-nurse.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi
Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Daughters; Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


REMEMBERING GULLEN: AFFIRMATIONS TO EXPLAIN THE DEATH, by MARIANA YONUSG    Poem Source                    
First Line: This child died of dehydration
Subject(s): Death - Children; Peace


REMEMBERING MY DECEASED DAUGHTER YINQING ON A MOONLIT NIGHT, by WANG FENGXIAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I tugged at her robe at parting
Last Line: On her old dressing case in the empty chamber
Subject(s): Death - Children


REMEMBRANCE, by JOHN HENRY BONER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I think that we retain of our dead friends
Last Line: Remember only when her babe first smiled.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


RESENTMENT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I miss you
Last Line: I miss %you...Always
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


RESENTMENT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: From the beginning people
Last Line: I resent the fact %that life goes on
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


RETURN TO HAMPTON BAYS, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: The little house is painted black now, shutters shut
Last Line: Black now, among scrub-pines and burning sand
Subject(s): Death - Children


RHYMES AND RHYTHMS: 18. MARGARET EMMA HENLEY (1888-1894), by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When you wake in your crib
Last Line: Peace of the grave.
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


RHYTHMS, by LYNETTE CRANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: His fingers were tiny
Last Line: My hands clutch my own %warm body for some remnant %of him; but I am alone. %I rock
Subject(s): Death - Children


ROGUE WAVE, by RICHARD FOERSTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: This morning near my house, a wave swept up
Last Line: Struck, lit only by a klieg-lamp's narrow gaze
Subject(s): Death - Children; Disappeared Persons; Grief; Sea Gulls; Seashore; Storms; Waves


RUNNING BOY, by HANNAH ALEXANDER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In marathon streets
Last Line: Invites you to enter his narrow kingdom %and live with him forever
Subject(s): Death - Children


RYAN, by C. B. FOLLETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today, a sparrow fell
Last Line: Gone. %this boy who made a difference
Subject(s): Death - Children


SCHOOLBUS, AFTER A CHILD'S DEATH, by JANE RUITER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Heard through half-sleep
Last Line: Premature, it seemed, %by several seconds-- %now that one less child %was riding
Subject(s): Death - Children


SEARCHING, by VALERIE FRIEDRICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: They call it searching - I really don't know
Subject(s): Death - Children


SECOND CHANGE SONG, by ELIZABETH KEMPF    Poem Source                    
First Line: If I ever get a baby in my belly again
Subject(s): Death - Children


SELECTED FANTASIES, 1978, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


SEVEN YEARS LATER: ON A SUICIDE, by DAVID PITRE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not one more! Not one more!
Last Line: Seven years later it's time for both of us to rest
Subject(s): Death - Children


SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY, by PHYLLIS HOTCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dance towards your birthday, a cold thursday
Last Line: The liquid black eye surveys without tears, %speaks without words, believes in the dance
Subject(s): Death - Children


SHE ANSWERS HER COMFORTERS, by FAITH WILLIAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Yes, I have susan, geoffrey, sarah, and tim
Subject(s): Death - Children


SHE CAME AND WENT, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As a twig trembles, which a bird
Last Line: Only to think she came and went.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


SHE IS GONE YET SHE IS STILL WITH ME, by FRIEDA STEINBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Unto-heaven is my prowl
Last Line: Without you there is no chapel
Subject(s): Absence; Death - Children; Love


SILVAE: STATIUS CONSOLES ATEDIUS FOR THE LOSS OF HIS ADOPTED SON, by PUBLIUS PAPINIUS STATIUS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And so death took him. Yet be comforted
Last Line: And win thy parents back to thee again
Alternate Author Name(s): Statius
Subject(s): Adoption; Death - Children


SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 123, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Baby lies so fast asleep
Last Line: Kiss her once and leave her.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 24, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why did baby die?
Last Line: But bow and die.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


SISTER FAR AWAY, by MICHELE WOLF    Poem Source                    
First Line: She sat cross-legged, studious, on the bed
Last Line: Eyes that knew I would always be there, %that tiny, listening hand
Subject(s): Death - Children


SISTERS IN ARMS, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The edge of our bed was a wide grid
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Death - Children; South Africa; Racism; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


SIXTY-SEVEN DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't miss her
Last Line: Keep it to myself %buried like she is
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


SKELETONS, by PHILLIS GERSHATOR    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the old days
Subject(s): Death - Children


SLEEP, DARLING, SLEEP, by MARY B. C. SLADE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Fold thy hands, little one
Last Line: Rest, darling, rest!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


SLUMBER SONG FOR SUNALINI, by SAROJINI NAIDU    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where the golden, glowing
Last Line: Sleep, my sunalini, sleep!
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Folk Songs - Indian; Heaven; Rest; Saints; Death - Babies; Paradise


SMALL DAUGHTER, by JUDITH YARROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: No, little baby I am
Subject(s): Death - Children


SMALL SON, by MAUDE MEEHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: They have gone
Subject(s): Death - Children


SMALL WAR, by GABRIEL FERRATER    Poem Source                    
First Line: They brought anti-tank mines, useless
Last Line: All emblematic, immemorial
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fights; Pyrenees (mountains), Europe; War


SNOWBANKS NORTH OF THE HOUSE, by DONALD HALL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Those great sweeps of snow that stop suddenly six feet from the house...
Subject(s): Death - Children; Family Life; Death - Babies; Relatives


SOMETIMES FATE WILL STEAL A BABY, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Soft as a bundle of rags
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fate; Nature; Old Age


SOMETIMES I REGRET THE DECISION I MADE PERSONALLY, by ROCHELLE H. DUBOIS    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


SOMETIMES MY TEARS, by JAMES MARDIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes
Last Line: And the camera %is the only eye %that recalls these truest moments %of living... %without tears
Subject(s): Death - Children


SOMEWHERE IN ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA, by CHARLOTTE ANNE ALEXANDER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Where did this all begin? %how much more technology can we afford
Subject(s): Death - Children


SONG, by MIGUEL HERNANDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: The house is a cote for doves
Last Line: The rhythms of the sea resound
Subject(s): Absence; Death - Children; Hearts; Mothers And Sons


SONG FOR A LOST SON, by ROBERT PETERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My son's image
Last Line: Mist faces, %faces in shrouds, %faces in clouds... %water has worn the cameos down
Variant Title(s): Song For A So
Subject(s): Death - Children


SONG FOR DEAD CHILDREN, by MURIEL RUKEYSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We set wreaths of brightness on the graves of the passionate
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


SONG FOR THE FUNERAL OF A BOY, by HERBERT TRENCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On stems from silver woods
Last Line: As dews that on the uplands shine and go!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals; Death - Babies; Burials


SONG OF HANDS, by JESUS E. VALENZUELA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hands-like soft blossoming buds
Last Line: You shall that day hold the lyre!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Kindness; Prayer


SONNET ON CATHERINE WORDSWORTH, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Surprised by joy - impatient as the wind
Last Line: Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.
Variant Title(s): "desideria;transient Joy;""surprised By Joy-impatient As The Wind"";
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Wordsworth, Catherine (1808-1812); Death - Babies; Bereavement


SORROW, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Has its wonders too which
Last Line: This sorrow will remain
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief


SORROW, by MEI YAO-CH'EN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Heaven took my wife. Now it
Last Line: Not even a shadow in the mirror
Subject(s): China - Song Dynasty (960-1278); Death - Children; Grief


SOUTH PEARL STREET, by SHARON NEGRI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Second thursday in july
Last Line: Watch for the shine %to rise up in him
Subject(s): Death - Children


SPAWNING, by CAROL DINE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I store you
Subject(s): Death - Children


SPECIAL OCCASIONS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We don't bring her
Last Line: A basket for easter %we bring her flowers
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


SPOTTED PONY, by RUTH GENEVIEVE WORK IODICE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I see you still on a black and white pony
Last Line: Billy, billy, where--and why-- %did the spotted pony go?
Subject(s): Death - Children


ST VITUS DANCE, by JOAN MAIERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Friends reflect
Last Line: Weighs daylight against the dark. %then turns her brights into water
Subject(s): Death - Children


STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Though parental affection lament thee
Last Line: Through the god of the spirits of all!
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


STANZAS TO AN AFFECTIONATE AND PIOUS PARENT, ON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When good old jacob mourn'd his child
Last Line: Its hopes and fears, and fly to god.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Parents; Death - Babies; Bereavement; Parenthood


STARKNESS, by WING WATSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: The snow %covers %and covers
Last Line: And the silence of winter %with bare trees keeps watch with me
Subject(s): Death - Children


STILL AWKWARD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's still awkward after
Last Line: Pretend that I never %had my second child
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


STILL LIFE WITH GOLEM, by MAGGIE JAFFEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Already
Last Line: (but I know that birds %learn to fear the hawk's %shadow before they ever learn %of the hawk). %no b
Subject(s): Death - Children


STOLEN, by JO NELSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: We loosed a thousand balloons
Last Line: Flitting happily, it hummed %a song of death and life %to the rest of the universe
Subject(s): Death - Children


STOW-ON-THE-WOLD, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I met an old man at stow-on-the-wold
Last Line: "and each was a tall and a lively lad."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Sons; Soldiers; Sons; War; Death - Babies


SUBSEQUENT CHILD, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you were born
Last Line: When you were born %I knew for sure
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


SUCH IS LIFE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's a mellow evening
Last Line: Such is grief
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


SUICIDE AT DAWN WAS WRAPPED IN LIGHT, by JOHN JOSEPH MCKERNAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The suicide at noon was wearing warm clothes
Last Line: With the name of that unknown court: the kingdom of why
Subject(s): Death - Children


SUMMER WITH THE BABY, by HILARY SIO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I grab the key
Subject(s): Death - Children


SUNDERLAND CHILDREN, by ALICE MEYNELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This was the surplus childhood, held as cheap!
Last Line: Wisely. She feared their threat
Alternate Author Name(s): Meynell, Wilfrid, Mrs.; Thompson, Alice Christina
Subject(s): Death - Children


SWIMMER, by ELISAVIETTA RITCHIE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The waters are slipping away from you
Last Line: I also will learn the currents. %teach me the path to the beach
Subject(s): Death - Children


SYLVIA, by GERALD STERN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Across a space peopled with stars I am
Subject(s): Sisters; Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


TAMMI, by LINDA ASHEAR    Poem Source                    
First Line: I always think of you in summer
Last Line: The last day of your life %on another summer day %I can't forget
Subject(s): Death - Children


TANKA: AN INTERNEE MOURNS FOR HIS SON WHO DIED IN ITALY, by SOJIN TOKIJI TAKEI    Poem Source                    
First Line: As thou light a candle
Subject(s): Death - Children; Japanese Americans - Internment; Prisons And Prisoners


TEDDY BEAR, by CAROL FOWLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: He didn't look much like my baby
Subject(s): Death - Children


TELL KIRK, by MARIE HENRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tell kirk I have stopped looking for him
Last Line: Catching the echo of his laughter %where all the questions drown
Subject(s): Death - Children


THAT LIGHT GREEN '53 FORD SEDAN, by MARJORIE POWER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I hand you my story to type
Last Line: How deep your eyes were, %how gentle your hands
Subject(s): Death - Children


THAW, by VIRGIL SAUREZ    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The empty mocking bird nests
Subject(s): Corpses; Death - Children; Cadavers; Death - Babies


THE ABANDONMENT, by WESLEY MCNAIR    Poem Text                 Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Climbing on top of him and breathing
Subject(s): Death - Children; Dreams; Death - Babies; Nightmares


THE ADVANCE, by TOM SLEIGH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Out the barred window sandbags
Subject(s): Lebanon; War; Dolls; Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE BLIND MAN, by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR.    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: At nogent, on the river marne
Last Line: "my little eleanor is dead."
Alternate Author Name(s): Allen, Hervey
Subject(s): Blindness; Death; Death - Children; Democracy; Fathers; Innocence; Schools; Social Protest; War; Visually Handicapped; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Students


THE BLUE HOG, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text                 Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: I didn't have to buy the acid
Last Line: Who's said to still be in the district.
Variant Title(s): A Blue Hog
Subject(s): Death - Children; Devil; Pigs; Revenge; Death - Babies; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub; Boars; Hogs


THE BOOTLESS BAIRN, by PATRICK MACGILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Days of the whirling snowflakes, nights of the / weeping wind
Last Line: They fall on the bootless bairn, and crush the hapless child.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE BURIAL OF AN INFANT, by HENRY VAUGHAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Blest infant bud, whose blossom-life
Last Line: To dress them, and unswaddle death.
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals; Death - Babies; Burials


THE BURIAL OF LOVE, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Two dark-eyed maids, at shut of day
Last Line: Highest and nearest god's right hand.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE BURIED CHILD, by DOROTHY WELLESLEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: He is not dead, nor liveth
Last Line: To his mother saith.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wellington, Duchess Of
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE CHILD AN' THE MOWERS, by WILLIAM BARNES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O. Aye! They had woone child bezide
Last Line: Aye! The zwath-flow'r's a-killed by the zun.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Farm Life; Mowing & Mowers; Death - Babies; Agriculture; Farmers; Lawn Mowers


THE CHILD DYING, by EDWIN MUIR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Unfriendly friendly universe, / I pack your stars into my purse
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; World War Ii; Death - Babies; Bereavement; Second World War


THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh! Call my brother back to me
Last Line: "would I had loved him more!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Brothers; Death - Children; Half-brothers; Death - Babies


THE CHILD'S FUNERAL, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair is thy sight, sorrento, green thy shore
Last Line: From long deep slumbers at the morning light.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals; Death - Babies; Burials


THE CHILD'S GRAVE, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I came to the churchyard where pretty joy lies
Last Line: Her sweet dawning smile and her violet eye!
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


THE CHILD'S LAST SLEEP; SUGGESTED BY MOMUMENT OF CHANTREY'S, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou sleepst - but when wilt thou wake, fair child?
Last Line: Beautiful dust! When we look on thee?
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Chantrey, Sir Francis Legatt (1781-1841); Death - Children; Sculpture & Sculptors; Women; Death - Babies


THE CHILD-ANGEL'S RETURN, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY    Poem Text                    
First Line: A child-angel came down from her home in high heaven
Last Line: "at the longest, my dear ones, it cannot be long."
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Death, Return From; Heaven; Spirituality; Death - Babies; Paradise


THE CHILDLESS MOTHER'S LULLABY, by ELLA (RHOADS) HIGGINSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, many's the time in the evening
Last Line: "tenderest angels will guard thy rest."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE CITY CLERK (WHEN HIS CHILD LAY DYING), by ANNIE MATHESON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I think of her when sunshine falls
Last Line: Would pass her by.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Graves; Heaven; Love - Loss Of; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


THE COAL STRIKE, by HENRY CHAPPELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Red are the rails with rust to-day
Last Line: Who went to heaven—starved.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death - Children; Heaven; Hunger; Poverty; Graveyards; Death - Babies; Paradise


THE CRADLE, by EUGENE MANUEL    Poem Text                    
First Line: For nine long months she made her mother's vows
Last Line: Is made of oak, and to god's acre borne.
Subject(s): Coffins; Cradles; Death - Children; Mothers; Pregnancy; Death - Babies


THE CRY OF THE CRANE, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN    Poem Text                    
First Line: The woman had borne me a child
Last Line: With my child in her arms?
Subject(s): Cranes (birds); Death - Children; Desolation; Pain; Death - Babies; Suffering; Misery


THE DAWN, by EDWARD BLISS REED    Poem Text                    
First Line: He shook his head as he turned away
Last Line: "are dancing and singing. ""thank god— the dawn!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love; Mothers; Death - Babies


THE DEAD CHILD, by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913)    Poem Text                    
First Line: But yesterday she played with childish things
Last Line: She will not smile to-day, for she is dead.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DEAD CHILD, by ERNEST CHRISTOPHER DOWSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep on, dear, now
Last Line: And share thy rest.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DEAD CHILD, by CONRAD FERDINAND MEYER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The child had of the garden made a friend
Last Line: "come, let me see your fine new summer-dress!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Meyer, Konrad
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DEAD CHILD AND THE MOCKING-BIRD, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once in a land of balm and flowers
Last Line: Moans round their place of sleep!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DEAD SON, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The boy was in the clay
Last Line: God comfort them that mourn!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


THE DEATH LULLABY, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "sleep, baby, sleep!"
Last Line: In dreamless sleep
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DEATH OF THE FIRST BORN, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Cover him over with daisies white
Last Line: For the first-born, love, is dead.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE DOLL, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I carry you in a glass jar
Last Line: Dead child.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Dolls; Toys; Death - Babies


THE DYING BOY TO THE WINDFLOWERS, by JOHN BANISTER TABB    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And have ye come again
Last Line: I follow! Lead the way!
Alternate Author Name(s): Father Tabb
Subject(s): Death - Children; Flowers; Death - Babies


THE DYING CHILD, by JOHN CLARE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He could not die when trees were green
Last Line: He died so quietly.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Spring; Death - Babies


THE DYING CHILD, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her cheek is flushed with fever red
Last Line: There, there, my child, lie down and die!
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Death - Children; Guilt; Pain; Poverty; Death - Babies; Suffering; Misery


THE ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O! Who rides by night through the woodland so wild
Last Line: But, clasped to his bosom, the infant was dead!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural; Death - Babies; Elves


THE ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
Last Line: The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural; Death - Babies; Elves


THE ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who rides so late through the midnight blast?
Last Line: But alack! In his arms the child lay dead!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural; Death - Babies; Elves


THE ERL-KING, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O! Who rides by night through the woodland so wild
Last Line: But, clasped to his bosom, the infant was dead!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fairies; Halloween; Supernatural; Death - Babies; Elves


THE FAITH OF A CHILD, by PATRICK MACGILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I've learned the tale of the crooning waves
Last Line: Of rosses by the sea.
Subject(s): Brothers; Death - Children; Faith; Heaven; Half-brothers; Death - Babies; Belief; Creed; Paradise


THE FIRST BREAK, by ALEXANDER ANDERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The first break in our happy household hearth
Last Line: Close by his rest, they thunder day by day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Surfaceman
Subject(s): Accidents; Death - Children; Fathers & Sons; Railroads; Death - Babies; Railways; Trains


THE FIRST SNOWFALL, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The snow had begun in the gloaming
Last Line: Folded close under deepening snow.
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; Snow; Dead, The; Death - Babies


THE FOUNTAIN AT THE TOMB, by NICIAS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Stay weary traveler, stay!
Last Line: His buried child to mourn.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


THE GIFT OF THE SEA, by RUDYARD KIPLING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The dead child lay in the shroud
Last Line: "we let it die in the dark!"
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sea; Death - Babies; Ocean


THE GOLD PIECE, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN    Poem Text                    
First Line: My lord will not miss of all his store
Last Line: Because I have stolen from my lord the ransom he would not give.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Gold; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


THE GOOD LORD GAVE, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The good lord gave, the lord has taken from me
Last Line: Oh, 'tis lonely, lonely, by the little grave!
Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 100. A NEW-BORN DEATH (2), by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And thou, o life, the lady of all bliss
Last Line: And did these die that thou mightst bear me death?
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love; Death - Babies


THE INDIAN WITH HIS DEAD CHILD, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the silence of the midnight
Last Line: My father's path I tread.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Death - Children; Native Americans; Death - Babies; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


THE IRISH MOTHER'S LAMENT, by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Half the long night, my children, I lie waking
Last Line: In the next glad spring time?
Alternate Author Name(s): Humprheys, Cecil Frances; Alexander, C. F., Mrs.
Variant Title(s): The Absent Ones
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


THE KEEPER'S SON, by ANDRE THEURIET    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Black is the night and as though in fight
Last Line: The son of the keeper had breathed his last!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Family Life; Fathers & Sons; Poaching; Death - Babies; Relatives


THE LAST CRADLE SONG, by JAMES HOGG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Bawloo, my bonnie baby, bawlililu
Last Line: I'll sing to my baby for ever.
Alternate Author Name(s): The Ettrick Shepherd; The Bard Of Ettrick
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE LITTLE ONE THE WATER-SPIRIT LOVED, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN    Poem Text                    
First Line: So young he could not go alone on earth
Last Line: Before whom I must smile dry-eyed?
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning; Mothers; Water; Death - Babies


THE LOST BABY POEM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The time I dropped your almost body down
Subject(s): Abortion; African Americans - Women; Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE LOST CHILDREN, by RANDALL JARRELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Two little girls, one fair, one dark
Last Line: But the child keeps on playing, so I play
Subject(s): Death - Children; Girls; Death - Babies


THE LOST LOVE, by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Simple and sweet as a child
Last Line: Simple and sweet as a child.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Heaven; Love; Death - Babies; Paradise


THE LOST SISTER, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They waked me from my sleep, I knew not why
Last Line: Which rent thee from me.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, by WILLIAM JAY SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Because I believe in the community of little children
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE MIDNIGHT VIGIL, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mournful, sighing, sadly weeping
Last Line: Youth from guilt and crime.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Night; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Bedtime


THE MOTHER, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Christmas! Christmas! Merry christmas! Rang the / bells. / o god of grace!
Last Line: While twain spirits, joy and sorrow, hovered o'er my plundered nest.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Pain; Death - Babies; Suffering; Misery


THE MOTHER'S LAMENT, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pale and cold is the cheek that my kisses oft press'd
Last Line: And only to wake when ascended to heaven!
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Lament; Mothers; Death - Babies


THE MOTHER'S LAMENT FOR HER INFANT, by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Cold is his brow, and the dew of the evening
Last Line: Henceforth will I worship my saviour alone!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Worship; Death - Babies


THE MOTHER'S PLEA, by WILLIAM HERBERT (1778-1847)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I stand not here in judgment, haughty priest
Last Line: "leaves life its worth. That lost I welcome death."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Faith; Mothers; Death - Babies; Belief; Creed


THE MOURNER, by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night that wee francesca died
Subject(s): Mourning; Death - Children; Bereavement; Death - Babies


THE MOURNING MOTHER, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dost thou weep, mourning mother
Last Line: Wait on, thou mourning mother.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Death - Babies


THE NIGHT OUR DARLING DIED, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm thinking of an evening, a weary time ago
Last Line: In the hours of weary watching, that night our darling died.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Grief; Heaven; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Paradise


THE RABBIT TRAP, by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Down in de sage fiel', settin' in de sno'
Last Line: An' little phil sleeps in de sleet an' de rain.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Death - Children; Graves; Graveyards; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


THE SADNESS OF SUMMER, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O beautiful summer! Thou bringest again
Last Line: We hear the sweet whisper, we 're fain to obey.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Desire; Flowers; Gardens & Gardening; Heaven; Roses; Death - Babies; Paradise


THE SCULPTURED CHILDREN; ON CHANTREY'S MONUMENT IN LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair images of sleep
Last Line: The faith, trust, joy, of immortality!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Death - Children; Monuments; Sculpture & Sculptors; Death - Babies


THE SPANISH CHAPEL, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I made a mountain brook my guide
Last Line: "an angel thus to heaven!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Death - Children; Spain; Women; Death - Babies


THE SPIRIT-CHILD, BY 'JENNIE', by ELIZABETH DOTEN    Poem Text                    
First Line: O, thou holy heaven above us!
Last Line: Rise victorious in the strife.
Alternate Author Name(s): Doten, Lizzie
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Graves; Heaven; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


THE TREASURE BOX, by THOMAS AUGUSTINE DALY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Ah! Here's the box! And there's his baby shoe
Last Line: His glory home! O little star of gold!
Alternate Author Name(s): Daly, T. A.
Subject(s): Death - Children; War; Death - Babies


THE TURNSTILE, by WILLIAM BARNES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Sad were we as we did peace
Last Line: His last white arms, and they stood still.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE TWO MYSTERIES, by MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We know not what it is, dear, this sleep so deep and still
Last Line: And as life is to the living, so death is to the dead.
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; Poetry & Poets; Whitman, Walt (1819-1891); Dead, The; Death - Babies


THE WHITE HEARSE, by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Death, I have walked with you through summer days
Last Line: Discards the life, and builds on blood its wealth.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE WIDOW OF NAIN, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The roman sentinel stood helm'd and tall
Last Line: Jesus went calmly on his way to nain.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Jesus Christ - Life & Ministry; Death - Babies


THE WIDOW TO HER SON'S BETROTHED, by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah, cease to plead with that sweet cheerful voice
Last Line: Weep for his mother! -- weep, young bride, for me!
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Pearce; Stirling-maxwell, Lady; Norton, The Honourable Mrs. Caroline
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers-in-law; Death - Babies


THERE IS ONE THING, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: One %thing %I
Last Line: The nausea %does %eventually %go %away
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


THERE WAS A BOY (VERSION 1), by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There was a boy, ye knew him well, ye cliffs
Last Line: Mute -- looking at the grave in which he lies!
Variant Title(s): The Boy Poet;the Boy And The Owls
Subject(s): Boys; Death - Children; Death - Babies


THERE WAS A BOY (VERSION 2), by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There was a boy, ye knew him well, ye cliffs
Last Line: Mute - for he died when he was ten years old.
Subject(s): Boys; Death - Children; Death - Babies


THEY DON'T KNOW, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I see %people I
Last Line: Who don't %even know %I had %my baby
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


THEY SAW HER GRASP HER OWN WAIST, AND THE FRICTION FROM HER HANDS, by MARJORIE AGOSIN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Rocked dead in her dreams-a memory-in her land of smoke
Subject(s): Death - Children; Disappeared Persons - Argentina; Human Rights - Argentina; Mothers; Solitude; Sons


THEY SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME, THEY SHOULD HAVE SAID, by LORI BROWN PATRICK    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


THIS DEWDROP WORLD, by KOBAYASHI ISSA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Issa; Issa
Subject(s): Death - Children


THIS PEN CLINGING TO MY HAND, by SIMON PERCHIK    Poem Source                    
Last Line: But they soon start to whisper %and your arms once so generous
Subject(s): Death - Children


THOMAS, by EBENEZER ELLIOTT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou art not dead, my son! My son!
Last Line: "the tears of parting blind me!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Corn-law Rhymer; Elliot, Ebenezer
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THRENODY, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The south-wind brings / life, sunshine, and desire
Last Line: "lost in god, in godhead found."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TIMOMACHUS, by SIMONIDES OF CEOS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When in his father's arms he lay / and breathed the joy of youth away
Last Line: A heart so brave, so cool a head.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Simonides Of Keos
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO A BEREAVED MOTHER, by THOMAS AUGUSTINE DALY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Oh, say not that your little son is dead
Last Line: Is your ambassador.
Alternate Author Name(s): Daly, T. A.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


TO A BEREAVED MOTHER ON THE DEATH OF HER TWO LITTLE BOYS, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, mother bereaved! From thy desolate hearth
Last Line: Tis well with thy children, with thee it is well.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


TO A CHILD DURING SICKNESS, by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep breathes at last from out thee
Last Line: "who say, ""we 've finished here."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hunt, Leigh
Variant Title(s): To T. L. H.
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Childhood; Death - Babies


TO A CHILD IN HEAVEN, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY    Poem Text                    
First Line: How dost thou fare in the high, silent skies?
Last Line: Since thou art there and I to earth exiled?
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


TO A DEAD BABY, by EFFIE WALLER SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pale little feet, grown quiet ere they could run
Last Line: There is a heaven that makes this earth complete.
Subject(s): Babies; Death - Children; Life; Infants; Death - Babies


TO A DYING BABE, by JOHN BANISTER TABB    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O bubble, break! All heaven thou hast
Last Line: Love calls thee to depart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Father Tabb
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO A DYING INFANT, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go to thy rest, my child!
Last Line: Amid yon cherub-train.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO A FATHER, ON THE DEATH OF HIS ONLY CHILD, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The hand of the highest, who woundeth, can heal
Last Line: That thou may'st go to him, though he cannot return.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers; Death - Babies


TO A GENTLEMAN & LADY ON THE DEATH ... CHILD NAMED AVIS, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: On death's domain intent I fix my eyes
Last Line: And seek beatitude beyond the skies.
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love - Loss Of; Mortality; Death - Babies


TO A LADY AND HER CHILDREN, ON THE DEATH OF HER SON ..., by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O'erwhelming sorrow now demands my song
Last Line: And to your god immortal anthems raise.
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love - Loss Of; Mortality; Death - Babies


TO A LITTLE CHILD, by ANNIE MATHESON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Clear eyes of heaven's chosen hue
Last Line: I feel god's wondrous tenderness.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Heaven; Death - Babies; Paradise


TO A YOUNG GIRL DYING, by THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is palm sunday: mindful of the day
Last Line: Pray that our pilgrimage may end like thine!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO ADA, by ANNE ISABELLA MILBANKE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thine is the smile and thine the bloom
Last Line: Thou art not near a father's heart!
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lady; Milbanke, Annabella
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Death - Babies


TO AN INFANT EXPIRING THE SECOND DAY OF ITS BIRTH, by HETTY WRIGHT    Poem Text                    
First Line: Tender softness, infant mild
Last Line: Partner in thy destiny!
Subject(s): Babies; Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Pain; Infants; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Suffering; Misery


TO AN INFANT EXPIRING THE SECOND DAY OF ITS BIRTH, by MEHETABEL (WESLEY) WRIGHT    Poem Text                    
First Line: Tender softness, infant mild
Last Line: Partner in thy destiny!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO BE A HERO, by DORIAN BROOKS KOTTLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you have a baby
Subject(s): Death - Children


TO HER SACRED MAJESTY, THE QUEEN MOTHER, ON DEATH OF MARY, by JOHN WILMOT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Respite, great queen, your just and hasty fears
Last Line: And dereliction adds unto remove.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rochester, 2d Earl Of
Subject(s): Death - Children; Henrietta Maria, Queen Of England; Death - Babies


TO JOY, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Is not this enough for moan
Last Line: Alone on that most wintry wild?
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO KING CHARLES AND QUEEN MARY FOR LOSS OF THEIR FIRST-BORN, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Who dares deny, that all first fruits are due
Last Line: Cannot but heap that grace, he will require.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO LEONAINIE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Leonainie!' angels missed her
Last Line: Than the morning skies.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Heaven; Tears; Death - Babies; Paradise


TO MONSIEUR DE LA MOTHE LE VAYER, UPON THE DEATH OF HIS SON, by MOLIERE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Let thy tears, le vayer, let them flow
Last Line: -- surely these claim immitigable [or, eternity of] tears!
Alternate Author Name(s): Poquelin, Jean Baptiste
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothe Le Vayer, Francois De La; Death - Babies


TO MRS. J. CLELAND ON THE DEATH OF A BELOVED SON AND ONLY CHILD, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My olive plant, so green and fair
Last Line: "and thou wilt join him ne'er to sever."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mothers & Sons; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


TO MY DEPARTED BABY, by LOUISA A. HORSFIELD    Poem Source                    
First Line: The flowers will bud and bloom again
Last Line: To canaan's ever-blooming shore
Subject(s): Death - Children


TO OLINTHUS GREGORY, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Is there a spot where pity's foot
Last Line: Sees all life held most dear enshrined.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Death - Children; Drowning; Death - Babies


TO ONE BEREFT, by ETHEL KNAPP BEHRMAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: War drums shall never summon him, nor cold
Last Line: Such love can not be covered in a grave.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Mourning; Death - Babies; Bereavement


TO SOME VIOLETS, by ENRIQUE FERNANDEZ GRANADOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: O sweet violets, blue as heaven
Last Line: And her eyes their heavenly hue!
Subject(s): Babies; Death - Children; Grief


TO THE HONOURABLE T.H. ESQ; ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER, by PHILLIS WHEATLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: While deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade
Last Line: "converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy"
Alternate Author Name(s): Peters, Phillis
Subject(s): Death - Children; Love - Loss Of; Mortality; Death - Babies


TO THE LADY CREW, UPON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why, madam, will ye longer weep
Last Line: To spring againe another yeare.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At times our britain cannot rest
Last Line: Will mix with love for you and yours.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Blackwood, Frederick (1826-1902); Death - Children; India; Death - Babies


TO THE MEMORY OF A FAVOURITE CHILD; THE DAUGHTER OF A FRIEND, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her voice is on the haunted air
Last Line: An altar for my prayers and tears.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


TO THE MOTHERS OF ONCOLOGY, by LINDA KEEGAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Maybe between shifts
Last Line: Maybe you're recalling, as a mother, the memory of that first %kiss
Subject(s): Death - Children


TO THE SPIRIT OF THE TREE, by ENRIQUE GONZALEZ MARTINEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: O vibrant, calm, o quietude magnanimous, sonorous
Last Line: And still to be immovable, majestic as a thought!
Subject(s): Death; Death - Children; Heaven; Mourning


TO THEODORE, by GEORGE MARION MCCLELLAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Such are the little memories of you
Last Line: Kneel nightly now in agony of prayer.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Racism; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


TO WILLIAM SHELLEY (1), by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The billows on the beach are leaping around it
Last Line: A patriot's birthright thou mayst claim!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Shelley, William (1816-1819); Death - Babies


TO WILLIAM SHELLEY (2), by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My lost william, thou in whom
Last Line: A patriot's birthright thou mayst claim!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Shelley, William (1816-1819); Death - Babies


TO WILLIAM SHELLEY (3), by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thy little footsteps on the sands
Last Line: When we returned to gaze on thee --
Subject(s): Death - Children; Shelley, William (1816-1819); Death - Babies


TOMORROW, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tomorrow will be two
Last Line: It's too hard to %be idle and sad
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


TOSA DIARY, SELS., by KI NO TSURAYUKI                       
Subject(s): Death - Children; Diaries


TOURING POLAND, by SHULAMITH BAT-YISRAEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Yes, I have seen the great caches
Last Line: You're wrong, I said, god knows. God knows!
Subject(s): Death - Children


TOYS, by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have laid you away as we lay
Last Line: With the toys of a little dead child.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Toys; Death - Babies


TRISOMY 21, by RACHEL GUIDO DEVRIES    Poem Source                    
First Line: This one we could define
Subject(s): Death - Children


TROUBLE, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One folds the little white hands, and lays a flower
Last Line: God wot,—a living grief is worse than the peace that folds the dead.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


TUESDAY MORNING I WAS TRANSPORTED TO A ROOM, by ELIZABETH KEMPF    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWENTY YEARS, by DO TAN XUAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The girl grew up to become a woman
Last Line: The spring hangs its head and sighs
Subject(s): Death - Children; Revolutions


TWENTY-SIX DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I %feel %like
Last Line: My %life %without %you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


TWENTY-TWO DAYS LATER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Please %let %it %be %easier
Last Line: Go %on %living %without %you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


TWILIGHT: YOUR CHISELLED LIPS, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Hyacinth blue explodes, %saying what I cannot
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWO CHILDREN, DYING OF ONE DISEASE, AND BURIED IN ONE GRAVE, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Brought forth, in sorrow, and bred up in care
Last Line: By taking this inheritance of dust.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Graves; Death - Babies; Tombs; Tombstones


TWO DREAMS, 1978, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sperm lay dali-style all over the third floor
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWO MYSTERIES, by WALT WHITMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We know not what it is, dear, this sleep so deep and still
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWO MYSTERIES, by WALT WHITMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the middle of the room, in its white coffin, lay the dead
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWO SMOTHERED CHILDREN, by MARION ALBINA BIGELOW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Theirs was not a peaceful death-bed
Last Line: And no voice of pity answer'd %to their feebly moaning cries
Subject(s): Death - Children


TWO-HEADED CALF, by SUSAN FAWCETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: You aim the lens over your shoulder
Last Line: You're the two-headed calf or the baby %girl born with her heart outside-- %monstrous but alive. Ali
Subject(s): Death - Children


UGOLINO, FR. INFERNO: CANTO 33, by DANTE ALIGHIERI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I awake before the dawn, my head
Last Line: Bit into the skull and again took hold
Alternate Author Name(s): Dante; Alighieri, Dante
Variant Title(s): The Flight Path:
Subject(s): Death - Children; Hunger; Skulls


UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS, TEREZIN, by REVA SHARON    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was here jhirka %in that black yesterday
Last Line: ... But jhirka %who will ask your questions
Subject(s): Death - Children; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews


UNCOMFORTABLE, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Most people %seem uncomfortable
Last Line: Take away %the pain %by changing %the subject
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


UNDER THE VIOLETS, by EDWARD YOUNG (1818-)    Poem Text                    
First Line: Under the violets, blue and sweet
Last Line: O grave! I would thy gates were wide.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


UNTITLED, by MARY JO BANG            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


UPON A CHILD, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here a pretty baby lies
Last Line: Th' easy earth that covers her.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


UPON A CHILD; AN EPITAPH, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: But borne, and like a short delight
Last Line: Love and they'l thank you for't. Adieu.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


UPON OUR LATE LOSS OF THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, by EDMUND WALLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The failing blossoms, which a young plant bears
Last Line: As a first-fruit, heaven claim'd that lovely boy; %the next shall live, and be the nation's joy
Subject(s): Courts And Courtiers; Death - Children


UPON THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF J.K., FIRST BORN OF H.K., by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Blessed spirit, thy infant breath
Last Line: Since what is thy fate now, must once be mine.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


UPON WEDLOCK, AND DEATH OF CHILDREN, by EDWARD TAYLOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A curious knot god made in paradise
Last Line: Whether thou get'st them green, or lets them seed.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Parents; Puritans In Literature; Death - Babies; Parenthood


UPON YOUNG MASTER ROGERS, by JOHN DRYDEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Of gentle blood, his parents only treasure
Last Line: He leap'd o'er age, and took the shortest way.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


UPS AND DOWNS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: There are definitely
Last Line: It seems that %there are more %downs than ups
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


VERA, by CARROLL RYAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear child, I know not if thy poor old father
Last Line: I could not keep her here, nor lose her there.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ryan, William Thomas Carroll
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Love; Memory; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF A CHILD NAMED AFTER CHARLES LAMB, by THOMAS NOON TALFOURD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Our gentle charles has pass'd away
Last Line: The poet and the child.
Alternate Author Name(s): Talfourd, Sergeant
Subject(s): Death - Children; Lamb, Charles (1775-1834); Death - Babies


VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF P. BURGESS; A CHILD OF SUPERIOR ENDOWMENTS, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is not length of years which lends
Last Line: Partake with joy its light forever!
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


VERSES, SUGGESTED BY THE FUNERAL OF AN EPITAPH IN BURY CHURCH-YARD, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When siloam's tower in fragments strew'd the ground
Last Line: The boon of immortality was given!
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Funerals; Death - Babies; Burials


VISITATION FOR THE NEIGHBOR BOY; MORTON'S CHAPEL, LINN, MISSOURI, by ANDREW MULVANIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dust gathers in the air outside the home
Last Line: And he just lies there and won't move
Subject(s): Death - Children


WAIL OF THE DIVORCED, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How can I give thee up, my child, my dearest, earliest born
Last Line: And may'st thou find a home at last in heaven's celestial bowers.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


WAITING ROOM, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sitting in the waiting room
Last Line: Forget for a moment about %grieving and babies who die
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WE ASSUME: ON THE DEATH OF OUR SON, REUBEN MASAI HARPER, by MICHAEL S. HARPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We assume / that in 28 hours
Last Line: You did not know we loved you.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


WELL WATER, by ELLEN GOLDSMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Remorse is not a river but a well
Last Line: Today I sprinkle it on my wrists, forehead, %think of my baby that died , that I didn't name
Subject(s): Death - Children


WESTERN-TRAINED IN THE OTHER WORLD, by REETIKA VAZIRANI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He bolted out of bed full of ideas
Last Line: A fox-trot, saw yourself in black tuxedos
Subject(s): Death - Children; Hospitals; Physicians; Sickness


WET, by PAM CONRAD    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was wet and black
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHAT HAPPENED, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: What happened %to our
Last Line: And scattered %in a %million directions
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WHAT NOT TO SAY, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: At %least %she
Last Line: I %was %attached
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WHAT WAS THERE FOR HIM TO HEAR? FAINT SUNLIGHT, by JOHN JOSEPH MCKERNAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The bare trees a few hidden leaves far light
Last Line: I cannot stand stand this pure silence'
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN?, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have learned that
Last Line: It's not worth it
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WHEN MY BABY DIED, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When %my baby
Last Line: Something terrible %happening %to one of my %surviving children
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WHEN WE WERE HERE TOGETHER, by KENNETH PATCHEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When we were here together in a place we did not know, nor one another
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death, Return From; Spiritual Life; Death - Babies


WHEN WE WERE HERE TOGETHER, by KENNETH PATCHEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When we were here together in a place we did not know, nor one another
Last Line: Of our mortal goddess on the indifferent wind
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death, Return From; Spiritual Life


WHERE CHRISTOPHER IS, by FAITH WILLIAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nobody's grandson, a busy boy
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHITEOUT, by PATRICIA MONAGHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Cats captured her dreams
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHY ARE WE ALL CLOTHED?, by MOLLY PEACOCK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why are we all clothed? A man in this room
Last Line: The close of reason and belief, %stand as if stepped from, meant for folding up
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHY DID THEY LAUGH?, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Why %did they laugh
Last Line: It's one block %from the house
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WHY DO YOU KEEP BRINGING IT UP?, by PHILLIS GERSHATOR    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


WHY SOME NIGHTS I GO TO BED WITHOUT UNDRESSING, by ELISAVIETTA RITCHIE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even as my children climb
Last Line: Strange strained voices on the phone, %and I do not undress
Subject(s): Death - Children


WIDOW OF NAIM [OR, NAIN], by THOMAS JAMES MERTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: The men that cut their graves in the grey rocks
Last Line: Promised to all the widow-church's risen children.'
Subject(s): Death - Children; Jesus Christ - Life And Ministry


WISHING, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wish I could get over
Last Line: With everyone %walking around you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids); Wishes


WITHOUT HER, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Deeper and deeper
Last Line: I bury my feelings %where she can be found
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


WOMAN AND HER UNBORN CHILD, by SHARON ELSWIT    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was like a mugging
Subject(s): Death - Children


WOMAN, WIFE, WIDOW: AIRBORNE, by FRAN CASTAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Inside the sealed cabin, where gravity
Last Line: And to give her a coverlet of earth
Variant Title(s): Airborn
Subject(s): Death - Children


WOMAN, WIFE, WIDOW: OPERATION CRAZY HORSE, by FRAN CASTAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A grand kowloon hotel. A hedge
Last Line: All I could do was hold you
Variant Title(s): Operation Crazy Hors
Subject(s): Death - Children


WOMEN WHO LOST BABIES, by MARION DEUTSCH COHEN    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Death - Children


WOUNDED CHILD, by JAN LEE ANDE    Poem Source                    
First Line: She wants to be heard, waits patient as earth
Last Line: There-among the stalks and leaves, sighing
Subject(s): Death - Children; Gardens And Gardening; Memory


WRETTEN BY ME ON THE DEATH OF MY CHILD ROBERT PAYLER, by MARY CAREY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My lord hath called for my sonne
Last Line: Enoughe my lord; now lett me dye.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Jesus Christ; Mercy; Death - Babies


WRETTEN MY ME ON THE DEATH OF MY CHILD PERIGRENE PAYLER, by MARY CAREY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I thought my all was given before
Last Line: Thy hand maid's pleas'd, compleatly happy still:
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


WRITING OF MY SORROW, by MEI YAO-CH'EN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Heaven took my wife from me
Last Line: This gaunt and worn ghost in the mirror
Subject(s): China - Song Dynasty (960-1278); Death - Children; Grief


YEAR'S END, by ELLEN BRYANT VOIGT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The fingers lie in the lap
Subject(s): Illness; Death - Children; Grief; Fear; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


YOU GOT TO BE NEXT, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It doesn't matter
Last Line: You give %to the %birth order
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


YOU HAVE FINALLY GROWN AND NOW LAY DYING, by AMY ROTHHOLTZ    Poem Source                    
Last Line: The spinster in my closet %sweeps me quietly out the door
Subject(s): Death - Children


YOU PUSHED YOUR WAY INTO MY LIFE, by NICHOLAS JOHNSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like I was famous or something--I remember
Last Line: Hit by a car full of men with machine guns %you would have adored %if you were still %alive
Subject(s): Death - Children


YOU REFUSE TO DIE, by PATRICIA BEVAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The rabbits' dance is over
Last Line: I shiver %watch you flutter swollen against the window %on this ordinary day
Subject(s): Death - Children


YOU'LL DRESS HIM, by YVONNE MOORE HARDENBROOK    Poem Source                    
First Line: In his new red sweater the one you
Last Line: When he was your only son you snap %the album shut with two sons left
Subject(s): Death - Children


YOU'RE ON MY MIND, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You're the %last thing
Last Line: There's nothing %I can %do to %bring you %back
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)


YOU'RE ONLY IN MY DREAMS, by SHARON DUNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm pretty low
Last Line: To go on %living without you
Subject(s): Death - Children; Sudden Death Infant Syndrome (sids)