Elegy for a Gentle Soul

Without a grave where, lonely, I can weep,
an urn or box of ashes I can keep,
her soul lives on in photographs and songs
she used to sing when I was very young,
the ones I loved to hum to my own child,
and hum them still while walking in the wild
and windy autumn lanes, wet-eyed with grief
and almost tumbling with each falling leaf.
I miss her smile that brightened up the day,
her giggling laugh and, most of all, the way
she cared for others, strangers on the street
as well as friends and neighbours she might meet.
Continuing to hum, I always find her
within my heart and in the grace of nature.

Kim M. Russell, 2nd November 2023

Thursday is the day for Meeting the Bar at the dVerse Poets Pub, and this week Laura would like us to ‘lament without the lachrymose’. Her starting point is All Souls Day and other feasts at the tail-end of Samhain, which she says is a rich source of poetry. The examples she has given are ‘All Souls Night’ by Yeats and ‘All Souls Day’ by Frances Bellerby.

Our challenge is to write an elegy about someone close to us; someone vaguely known; someone totally unknown except through deeds or writings, for example a dead poet; or a group of people, as in Gray’s ‘Elegy written in a country churchyard’.

Laura would like us to include three elements: lament – expressing grief and sorrow; praise – admiration of the deceased; and consolation and solace. Our elegies can be written as three distinct stanzas or melded together, but keeping the order of the three elements. The elegy can be written in any metre we choose, but we can try the Elegiac metre, which is rhyming couplets and written in dactylic hexameter and pentameter.

Also linked to Sherry’s prompt at What’s Going On? on 17th July 2024.

54 thoughts on “Elegy for a Gentle Soul”

  13. Oh Kim, this is a beautiful elegy, especially read aloud. I love how the familiar humming and songs is woven so gently into this tribute. I can imagine how special she was.

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  14. What a beautiful poem. I could SEE her, hear her giggle. So lovely, Kim. Hard not to have a place to visit and mourn, but celebrating her with poetry and song may be even better.

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. You have done your Mum proud! I love how you brought through to a fitting end: ‘Continuing to hum, I always find her
    within my heart and in the grace of nature.’

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  21. This is a beautiful tribute to your mother Kim. Mothers are God’s gifts to us. We are so lucky to have them in our life. Your poem reminds me of my mother too. She passed away last July.

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