Sad Poems

By Samantha Buttrick

It's often during this time of year, as the weather gets colder and snow starts to fall (and I know the holiday season is coming up), that I begin to feel melancholy and nostalgic. It's at this time when I find myself missing my loved ones who have passed away, missing my friends I haven't spoken to, and thinking about the way things were when I was younger. It's because of this that I decided to take a look at sad poems. I suppose there are a lot of things to be sad about in this world, but in my search for sad poems I mostly found poems about the death of loved ones, loss of love, and depression. The thing that is unique is how each person expresses those subjects differently. The first poems are about the loss of loved ones. The first is a fairly familiar one written by the Master of Melancholy, Edgar Allan Poe.

                    Annabel Lee
 by Edgar Allan Poe 
   
 It was many and many a year ago,
 In a kingdom by the sea,
 That a maiden there lived whom you may know
 By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
 And this maiden she lived with no other thought
 Than to love and be loved by me.

 I was a child and she was a child,
 In this kingdom by the sea;
 But we loved with a love that was more than love-
 I and my Annabel Lee;
 With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
 Coveted her and me.

 And this was the reason that, long ago,
 In this kingdom by the sea,
 A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
 My beautiful Annabel Lee;
 So that her highborn kinsman came
 And bore her away from me,
 To shut her up in a sepulchre
 In this kingdom by the sea.

 The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
 Went envying her and me-
 Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
 In this kingdom by the sea)
 That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
 Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

 But our love it was stronger by far than the love
 Of those who were older than we-
 Of many far wiser than we-
 And neither the angels in heaven above,
 Nor the demons down under the sea,
 Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

 For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
 And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
 And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
 Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
 In the sepulchre there by the sea,
 In her tomb by the sounding sea. 


  For Sean
  by jenawin 
   
 I wanted to
 kiss the
 bundles of stars
 in your face

 I wanted to
 smooth the
 rough edges of your
 skin
 weaved with mine
 so full of
 hidden pain
 and
 boyish innocence

 I wanted to
 melt into your
 warm white walls

 I didn't want to leave you

 the heavens watched us
 while we slept
 in those cold
 January nights

 angels
 full of
 envy
 above us

 I suppose they
 wanted you
 to become
 a fleeting blotch
 of red
 in my heart

 I suppose
 the whispers of
 fate
 decided to
 change us

 I didn't want to leave you

 I always tasted the
 sweetness
 of your skin
 as if for the last time

 with gentle fingers
 and sleepy eyes
 we fell in love

 I always tangled the
 stars in your hair
 I always kissed
 the scars on your hands

 as if I knew
 we were going to
 die

 the angels have
 you
 now

 the man I loved

 and I have
 sorrow
 and
 one million pictures of you

 lodged in my chest

   
  by Lory DeBeir 
   
  The white cat sits so primly
  Among tombstones, somber, gray,
  His feline heart beats strongly
  'Mid the coldness of decay.
  My tears of loss slip slowly
  Upon the upturned ground,
  While the white cat still sits primly
  And never makes a sound.  
 

The next poems are a unique look at the way depression can effect every person quite differently. The first is a poem by Emily Dickinson.

There's a certain Slant of light, 
Winter Afternoons-- 
That oppresses, like the Heft 
Of Cathedral Tunes-- 

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us-- 
We can find no scar, 
But internal difference, 
Where the Meanings, are-- 

None may teach it--Any-- 
'Tis the Seal Despair-- 
An imperial affliction 
Sent us of the air-- 

When it comes, the Landscape listens-- 
Shadows--hold their breath-- 
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance 
On the look of Death--

   
   
  Warped & Twisted
  by Skittles 
   
  Harsh words & violent blows
Hidden secrets nobody knows
Eyes are open, hands are fisted
Deep inside I'm warped & twisted
So many tricks & so many lies
Too many whens & too many whys
Nobody's special, nobody's gifted
I'm just me, warped & twisted
Sleeping awake & choking on a dream
Listening loudly to a silent scream
Call my mind, the number's unlisted
Lost in someone so warped & twisted
On my knees, alive but dead
Look at the invisible blood I've bled
I'm not gone, my mind has drifted
Don't expect much, I'm warped & twisted
Burnt out, wasted, empty, & hollow
Today's just yesterday's tomorrow
The sun died out, the ashes sifted
I'm still here, warped & twisted

   
  An Ode To Life
  © By Amritpan Kaur

   
  It's a dark winter day 
The gloom has come to stay 
A mute longing hangs in the air 
Drowning all else in its lair 

The grass doesn't seem to grow 
The wind doesn't think to blow 
The sky never passes blue 
It's silent through and through 

As I stand here looking out 
Can't recall what life is about 
What it had been, is, and going to be 
I've locked myself in, thrown out the key 

I know what they'll say when I'm no more 
When my body washes up onto the shore 
When there's nothing left but a memory 
Old pictures and a diary 

They'll blame my family, my friends 
The police will come up with dead ends 
And then they'll say that I went insane 
And forget me, forget my name 

Come to my funeral but don't cry for me 
Tears won't bring me back, can't you see? 
I know life is an adventure, live it all the way 
But you can't stop me, there's nothing to say 

The waves thunder seventy feet below 
Too late to turn back, time for the show 
Too late to turn back and live life again 
Farewell to life, farewell my friend

The last poem is written from the perspective of a child who is wanting her mother to come home, and doesn't understand why her mother can't come back.

Does Heaven Have a Phone Number?
Author Unknown
Mommy went to Heaven, but I need her here today, My tummy hurts and I fell down; I need her right away, Operator, can you tell me how to find her in this book? Is heaven in the yellow part? I don't know where to look. I think my daddy needs her too; at night I hear him cry. I hear him call her name sometimes, but I really don't know why. Maybe if I call her, she will hurry home to me. Is Heaven very far away, is it across the sea? She's been gone a long, long time; she needs to come home now! I really need to reach her, but I simply don't know how. Help me find the number please, is it listed under "Heaven"? I can't read these big, big words; I am only seven. I'm sorry, operator, I didn't mean to make you cry, Is your tummy hurting too, or is there something in your eye? If I call my church maybe they will know. Mommy said when we need help, that's where we should go. I found the number to my church tacked up on the wall. Thank you operator, I'll give them a call.

If you'd like to read more sad poems, I found a rather large collection on poetryamerica.com http://www.poetryamerica.com/sadness_poems.asp . While you're at it, to kind of balance the mood, check out some more upbeat poems while you're there. Blessings, Samantha.