Everyone experiences loss differently and there’s no right or wrong way to cope with the loss of someone you care about. If you find poetry comforting, you might find some relatable quotes or words in the grief poems we’ve gathered below.
Or you might find that some of the poems give a different perspective on grief and loss that you might not have considered before.
Poems about grief
The Wake – Rita Dove
“Your absence distributed itself
like an invitation.
Friends and relatives
kept coming, trying
to fill up the house.
But the rooms still gaped —
the green hanger swang empty, and
the head of the table
demanded a plate.”
Grief can feel lonely, no matter how many people you’re around. The Wake by Rita Dove talks about the emptiness you might feel when you’re grieving. Though the funeral wake may be full of people, it’s still normal to feel like there’s a gap that can’t be filled.
Read the poem in full on ProjectMUSE.
After Great Pain a Formal Feelings Comes – Emily Dickinson
This poem about grief talks about the numbness that you might face during the grieving process. When we talk about grief, a lot of people will think of the 5 stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But everyone experiences grief in their own way, and it’s completely normal to go through stages where you feel nothing at all.
“After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?”
Find a full version of the poem at the Poetry Foundation.
Silence – D.H. Lawrence
Loss can make us reflect on life and how all things will eventually come to an end. In this grief poem, D. H. Lawrence talks about the silence you face when you’ve lost someone who played a part in your daily life. Though this is difficult, he reminds us that it’s natural and inevitable for all of us.
“Since I lost you I am silence-haunted,
Sounds wave their little wings
A moment, then in weariness settle
On the flood that soundless swings.
Whether the people in the street
Like pattering ripples go by,
Or whether the theatre sighs and sighs
With a loud, hoarse sigh:”
Read the full poem on Poets.org.
Inspirational and positive poems about grief
When You Have Lost Someone You Love - Donna Ashworth
“When you have lost someone you love…
Do not make the mistake of living in sadness, or living small to honour their absence.
You owe it to them to live even more vividly than before.”
This poem by Donna Ashworth encourages you to embrace any positive feelings you might have during the grieving process. If you feel a sense of guilt when you experience moments of happiness or joy after losing a loved one, it’s important to know that this is okay. You don’t have to suppress these, and they don’t detract from how much you cared for the person who’s passed away.
Find the full poem on Donna Ashworth’s website.
And Death Shall Have No Dominion – Dylan Thomas
“Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.”
This poem about grief shares that while death is inevitable and can leave us feeling powerless, we do hold power in how we remember our loved ones. While death may mean that you can’t see someone anymore, it doesn’t take away from the love that you feel for them and the memories you have of them. It’s an empowering look at grief that you might not have considered before.
Find the full poem on Poets.org.
Try to Praise the Mutilated World – Adam Zagajewski
“Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth's scars.”
When you lose someone, it’s completely normal to feel that the world is a dark and unpleasant place. Adam Zagajewski doesn’t deny that the world can be cruel. But in this poem of grief, he reminds us that it’s the same world that gave you the chance to spend time and share connections with loved ones before they passed.
Read the poem in full on The Poetry Foundation.
Otherwise – Jane Kenyon
“I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.”
It's not immediately obvious that this short poem by Jane Kenyon is talking about grief and loss. Kenyon wrote this poem shortly after being diagnosed with leukaemia. It talks about the grief she feels at facing the loss of her own life. The poem talks about appreciating the moments that we do have, but to also accept that death and the grief that comes along with it.
The full poem is available on Poets.org.
Train Ride – Ruth Stone
“All things come to an end;
small calves in Arkansas,
the bend of the muddy river.
Do all things come to an end?
No, they go on forever.
They go on forever, the swamp,
the vine-choked cypress, the oaks
rattling last year's leaves,
the thump of the rails, the kite,
the still white stilted heron.”
This poem on grief and loss by Ruth Stone looks at death from a natural perspective. It’s a reminder that while all living things eventually come to an end, they leave a legacy that breathes life into future generations.
Take a look at the poem in full on The Writer’s Almanac.
Poems about grieving a parent
Making a Fist – Naomi Shihab Nye
“Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.”
Making a Fist talks about the passing of the poet’s mother. Naomi Shihab Nye talks about fond memories that she can lean on during difficult and darker times. Though we might have to face life without our parents, they live on in the way they raised us and the lessons they taught us that shape our everyday lives now.
You can read the full poem at the Poetry Foundation.
Bereavement – Kevin Young
Kevin Young wrote this grief poem after losing his Dad. In the poem, he looks at how his Dad’s dogs grieve – how they wait for him, anticipating a voice that won’t call them again. At the same time, he envies how the dogs are able to carry on with other elements of their day-to-day life with little thought of his Dad.
“Behind his house, my father’s dogs
sleep in kennels, beautiful,
he built just for them.
They do not bark.
Do they know he is dead?
They wag their tails
& head. They beg
& are fed.
Their grief is colossal
& forgetful.
Each day they wake
seeking his voice,
their names.”
A full version of this poem is published in The New Yorker.
Poems about grieving a sibling
I Need to Talk to my Sister – Grace Paley
“I needed to talk to my sister
talk to her on the telephone I mean
just as I used to every morning
in the evening too whenever the
grandchildren said a sentence that
clasped both our hearts.”
I Need to Talk to my Sister is a poem that shows the change to routine and habits you might face when you lose someone close to you. Grace Paley talks about the longing she experiences – how she’s so used to talking to her sister on the phone every day that there’s now a gap in her daily routine that feels empty.
Find the full poem at The Writer’s Almanac.
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