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Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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10 Facts About Hospice Care You May Not Know" />
10 Facts About Hospice Care You May Not Know: NHPCO stresses that hospice is about living fully, not preparing for death. -
Man of Many Faces" />
Man of Many Faces: A niece says goodbye to her favorite gay uncle, in whom she confided about her own sexuality -
Last Rites: A Catholic Send-Off" />
Last Rites: A Catholic Send-Off: A look at the religion's final prayer procession for the dying
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Tag Archives: Poetry
Reassurance in Death
Nature reminds us that death is part of her poetry
When I was fourteen, my family went on a vacation to Ireland. We drove through the much-too-small roads in a much-too-big rental car: a Mercedes van that seated ten. It sometimes felt perilous weaving through quaint little towns in a … Continue reading
Posted in The Next Chapter
Tagged Cemeteries, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Graves, Nature, Poetry
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The Unknown Shore
by Elizabeth Clark Hardy
Sometime at Eve when the tide is low I shall slip my moorings and sail away With no response to a friendly hail In the silent hush of the twilight pale When the night stoops down to embrace the day … Continue reading
A Quote by David Harkins -
“You can shed tears that she is gone, or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left. Your heart … Continue reading
From “Song of Myself”
- by Walt Whitman
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yaws over the roofs of the world. The last … Continue reading
“When that time comes, when my last breath leaves me, I choose to die in peace and meet Shi’dy’in (the creator).”
- A Navajo poem
Death XXVII
by Khalil Gibran
Then Almitra spoke, saying, “We would ask now of Death.” And he said: You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes … Continue reading
El Malei Rachamim
A traditional Jewish prayer
El malei rachamim shokhen ba-m’romim ha-m’tzei m’nuchah n’khonah tachat kanfei ha-sh’khinah b’ma’alot k’doshim u’t’horim c’zohar ha-rakiah maz’hirim l’nishmot yakireinu u’k’dosheinu she-hal’khu l’olamam. Ana ba’al ha-rachamim ha-s’tirem b’tzel k’nafekha l’olamim u-tz’ror bitz’ror ha-chayim et nishmatam. Adonai hu nachalatam v’yanuchu b’shalom al … Continue reading
Posted in A Right of Passage
Tagged Cultural Perspectives, Memorial Service, Poetry, Religion, Spirituality and Belief
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[Don't let me leave you, I may die]
by Kseniya Marennikova (translated by Daniel Weissbort)
Don’t let me leave you, I may die faster than they think, because what is death. just a walk in the cold just a walk in the cold in an open shirt, hand in hand.
In Remembrance
by Rev. Arnold Crompton
This poem is one of celebrant Irene Kane‘s favorite pieces to incorporate into the memorial services she leads; it both speaks to a universal sentiment, and readily lends itself to personalized adaptation. It reminds me of Suzette’s grandmother’s final words … Continue reading
Do not stand at my grave and weep
by Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am in a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow. I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the … Continue reading
Empty Branch in the Orchard
by Mary Oliver
To have loved is everything, I loved, once, a hummingbird who came every afternoon– the freedom-loving male– who flew by himself to sample the sweets of the garden, to sit on a high, leafless branch with his red throat gleaming. … Continue reading
The Beauty of Death XIV by Khalil Gibran
Part Three - The Remains
Unwrap me from this white linen shroud and clothe me With leaves of jasmine and lilies; Take my body from the ivory casket and let it rest Upon pillows of orange blossoms. Lament me not, but sing songs of youth … Continue reading
The Beauty of Death XIV by Khalil Gibran
Part Two - The Ascending
I have passed a mountain peak and my soul is soaring in the Firmament of complete and unbound freedom; I am far, far away, my companions, and the clouds are Hiding the hills from my eyes. The valleys are becoming … Continue reading
The Beauty of Death XIV by Khalil Gibran
Part One - The Calling
Let me sleep, for my soul is intoxicated with love and Let me rest, for my spirit has had its bounty of days and nights; Light the candles and burn the incense around my bed, and Scatter leaves of jasmine … Continue reading