Archive for the ‘Memorial Picture Poem’ Category
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
It seems hard to believe, but it has been a year since the tsunami hit Japan and severely damaged the nuclear reactor. I am re-running “Winds of Death: Nature Claims Its Victory”.
Wind of Death: Nature Claims Its Victory
How now shall the living live
with so much life now gone?
Nature moved the water’s edge –
an echo of a rumbling thunder
urging waves to drive asunder
an ancient land to history’s ledge –
illumined by a modern sun
that now becomes invented dawn
glowing upward from the ground,
naked now with walls all gone –
bringing clouds on wispy wind
that burns the skin but makes no sound.
*
How now shall the living live
with death now floating all around?
We look for faces on the shore
amid the fish and cars and ships,
brought to us by seismic blips
in ways we have not known before.
*
Nature mocks with every tide;
beaches fill with those who died.
We turn away from the winds,
but see the fires and the clouds,
knowing they can kill the crowds
searching ground, searching sea
for glimpse of life among the dead,
a thousand thoughts in our head.
*
Nature took what we had made
and we can only wait and see
if life itself now will fade.
The clouds we made are moving now;
we watch the winds so warily:
Hearts with hope submerged in dread.
We feel the winds; we see the dead.
*
We ask ourselves: What are we now?”
We ask ourselves: “What will we be?”
Our minds benumbed of clarity,
we stumble through the lives we were,
victims of technology:
Nature claims its victory.
* Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2011-1012. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "tsunami poem", Health, memorial poem for family member, memorial poetry, Nature, Nature Claims it Victory, nature poem, picture poems, poem, poems, poetry, poetry to honor deceased person, technology poem, Tsunami, Winds of Death, wisdom
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Sunday, January 22nd, 2012
That You Remember Me
Part one of two parts
I’ve learned so much throughout my life,
but there’s much I don’t recall.
I know it’s in there somewhere
but it’s hard to find it all.
It’s not that I’ve forgotten you,
or the things I said I’d do;
I remember everything
but it’s hidden somewhere I can’t see
just beyond my view.
You see, there is a shadow where
there didn’t used to be,
and sometimes when I look right there
it just confuses me.
I remember lovely flowers,
and songs I used to sing.
I remember springtime showers,
and rainbows they would bring.
I remember movies
and who would be the star,
but sometimes it’s so hard for me
to know just who you are.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom. All rights reserved.
Donate to Alzhiemer’s research.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "poems of inspiration", Alzheimer's poem, Alzheimers disease, family, gifts, heirlooms, memorial poem for family member, poems, poetry, That You Remember Me
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Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
After too many years, and one year too late, Ron Santo is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died just over one year ago, and so he did not know during his lifetime that he had finally received major league baseball’s highest honor: to be elected and enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I hope he knows now! But more than baseball, he was an advocate for the children who suffer from the disease that he suffered from most of his life. He had Juvenile Diabetes, and during his career, few knew that he had to test his blood and give himself insulin multiple times a day in order to save his life and health. He committed his life to helping children who suffered from this disease, helping the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to raise over $ 60 million to support research to find a cure for it, and to help the children, all while undergoing two leg amputations and multiple other health issues. I am re-running this poem in honor of his Hall of Fame election. It is called “For Every Kid.” And thank you, Ron Santo, a true Hall of Famer!
For Every Kid
You played the nation’s greatest game
with talent and with fire,
reaching deep within yourself
yet always reaching so much higher.
It is a game learned by boys,
yet also played by men.
You played the game so you’d inspire
everyone to have some fun–
so men would play like boys again.
There was a joy to making catch
that others might not make,
or to drive the runner home
when victory was at stake.
Every game was a test
of stamina and will.
You always gave your very best:
you played with passion;
you played with skill;
stars may dim but never rest.
And when the games were over
and the crowds were getting thin,
you gave yourself to different cause,
more determined now than ever
to fight the fight and to win.
You saw the children suffer
from the burdens that you knew.
You gave your all the only way
that you knew how to do:
have a passion; set a goal;
make a plan; then pursue.
You knew their hurt; you knew their pain;
you knew the fear in each one’s brain.
You showed them courage;
you gave them hope.
You taught them how to live and cope;
you showed them that there was no shame.
You gave yourself; you gave your name:
you kept the kids in the game.
So thank you, Mr. Santo,
for everything you did:
for the game; for the Cubs;
and most of all–above it all–
for the love you showed for every kid.
You fought the fight every day
and still you played the game.
the Biggest Leagues have called you up:
You’re a star in every sense–
you’re in Heaven’s Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to Ron Santo! All good things to his family!
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2009-20012. All Rights Reserved.
Tags: "Hall of Fame", "poems of inspiration", "Ron Santo", "the power of words", baseball, chicago cubs, child, heirlooms, Juvenile Diabetes, love, memorial poetry, passion, picture poems, poetry
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Sunday, September 11th, 2011
The Silence and the Darkness
A September 11 Poem
Can you hear the silence?
There’s a space there in your mind,
ten years old
but still brand new –
still burning you and touching you
though you were far away.
*
Can you see the silence?
Not a cloud was in the sky,
but a lost and wayward airplane
turned in to a tower
and your world stopped to ponder
until there was another
and then you were not sure at all
of what it was you knew,
but you knew it was a morning
unlike any other
and you could not forget.
*
Can you smell the silence?
Terror reigned and rained
in Pennsylvania, NYC and DC
and sunny skies were fillled with clouds
of smoke and fire
and shouts and screams
and gasps and sirens
and mothers, fathers, children crying –
a spot of sun through monstrous clouds;
this was life
among the dead.
This was life
among the dying.
*
Then the loudest sound of all:
Silence: silence so profound,
from sky down to the ground
and back again.
And then the sky began to fall,
and all we knew was nothing,
nothing then at all.
*
You recall the silence.
It is always there –
a space inside your mind
that never will be filled:
not with pictures; not with sound;
just a piece of silence
in a place of darkness
inside of which is vastness
with a thousand million questions
and a thousand million resolutions
that all come down to this:
How shall we now live?
*
The silence and the darkness
brought by stealthy enemy
somehow can unite us
when we ourselves can not.
*
Remember those who perished.
Remember those they loved.
And remember then the heroes:
They never let us down.
*
Celebrate that silence.
Celebrate that darkness.
Celebrate that space.
And celebrate America,
rising from the ashes.
*
Can you feel the silence?
Then ponder once again:
Who have we become?
And who shall we now be?
*
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom. Sept. 2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "the power of words", airplane, anniversary gift, anniversary poem, Darkness, dream, dust, inspiration, memorial poetry, picture poems, September 11, Silence, space, terror, unite
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Thursday, August 11th, 2011
For Every Kid: Ron Santo has helped so many children who suffer from juvenile diabetes. The Chicago Cubs unveiled a beautiful statue of Mr. Santo last night.
Here is part II, and the conclusion, of this poem.
You saw the children suffer
from the burdens that you knew.
You gave your all the only way
that you knew how to do:
have a passion; set a goal;
make a plan; then pursue.
You knew their hurt; you knew their pain;
you knew the fear in each one’s brain.
You showed them courage;
you gave them hope.
You taught them how to live and cope;
you showed them that there was no shame.
You gave yourself; you gave your name:
you kept the kids in the game.
So thank you, Mr. Santo,
for everything you did:
for the game; for the Cubs;
and most of all – above it all –
for the love you showed for every kid.
You fought the fight every day
and still you played the game.
The Biggest Leagues have called you up:
you’re a star in every sense –
You’re in Heaven’s Hall of Fame.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2010-2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "Hall of Fame", "Ron Santo", "the power of words", baseball, chicago cubs, gift, gifts, heirlooms, inspiration, JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes, legacies, memorial poem for family member, passion, picture poems, poem, poetry, poetry to honor deceased person
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Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
This poem was first printed last winter as a tribute to Ron Santo. Today, Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs will be unveiling a statue of Mr. Santo in Wrigley Field. Whether you agree or disagree that he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he had extraordinary careers as a player and as a broadcaster and as a businessman. And he accomplished all of this while having to check his blood sugar multiple times every day and to take his medications. Ultimately, he lost both of his lower legs to diabetes, had countless surgeries, and yet still made it to the ballpark almost every game to announce the games on WGN radio. Most important, he gave countless hours to help children afflicted with juvenile diabetes, by working the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and especially by direct interaction with the children. He was a Hall of Famer for them! Part II will go up on Thursday.
For Every Kid Part I of II
You played the nation’s greatest game
with talent and with fire,
reaching deep within yourself
yet always reaching so much higher.
It is a game learned by boys
yet also played by men.
You played so hard so you’d inspire
everyone to have some fun –
so men would play like boys again.
There was a joy to making catch
that others might not make,
or to drive the runner home
when victory was at stake.
Every game was a test;
of stamina and will.
You always gave your very best:
you played with passion;
you played with skill;
stars may dim but never rest.
And when the games were over
and the crowds were getting thin,
you gave yourself to different cause,
more determined now than ever
to fight the fight and to win.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2010-2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "Hall of Fame", "poems of inspiration", "Ron Santo", "the power of words", baseball, baseball player, courage, gift, gifts, heirlooms, inspiration, JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes, legacies, memorial poem for family member, memorial poetry, passion, picture poems, poem, poems, poetry, poetry for wake, poetry to honor deceased person, skill
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Monday, August 8th, 2011
The following is the last stanza of Mourn Me Not For I Live On.
This poem is a happy and inspiring memorial for your loved one, and your friends and family members will be deeply touched by the uplifting message. I just finished another memorial piece and was very happy with the final result. It was etched on black matte with room for a 5″ by 7″ photo in an oval opening, and it will be given this coming weekend to the family of the young man who died far too soon. I can write one just for your loved one. Contact me at info@danielmarkpicturepoems.com.
A Poem to Honor a Special Person
Mourn Me Not For I Live On Part IV of IV
I’m traveling to another place,
with a better view.
Thank you all for loving me
as much as I love you.
You have made my life complete:
A privilege it has been.
I will love you all forever
until we meet again.
Life has changed but is not gone.
Night brings forth another dawn.
Mourn me not for I live on!
Copyright 2009-2011 Daniel Mark Extrom. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "the power of words", gift, gifts, heirlooms, inspiration, legacies, love, memorial for funeral, memorial poem for family member, picture poems, poetry, poetry for wake, poetry to honor deceased person
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Friday, August 5th, 2011
Here is Part III of IV of Mourn Me Not For I Live On
This poem is a memorial for someone special in your life. It makes a dignified statement for any wake, funeral or memorial service, and everyone will be touched by its uplifting message. Your guests and family members will enjoy reading it and seeing your loved one’s photo.
A Poem to Honor a Special Person
Part III
To all my friends and family,
these words I leave with you:
Open up your ears to hear,
and your eyes to see
all the beauty in your life
and keep it in your memory.
Love the life that you’ve been given,
just as I have done.
Keep on making memories,
and cherish every one.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2009-2011. All rights reserved.
(See this piece, and all others, in our Store. Or, I can write a special one to celebrate your loved one. I have been asked by a number of people to write something special for their family member, and they have always loved it. A unique and special remembrance.)
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "the power of words", gift, gifts, heirlooms, inspiration, legacies, love, memorial for funeral, memorial poem for family member, memorial poetry, poetry for wake, poetry to honor deceased person
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Thursday, August 4th, 2011
Mourn Me Not For I Live On Part II
- A Poem to Honor a Special Person
I have loved the life I’ve had,
and lived it very well –
doing all the best I could,
being all the best I was –
at what I chose to do.
I’ve tried to give what’s mine to give:
a warm smile; a kind word;
a helping hand and all my love
to everyone I knew.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 2009-2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", "the power of words", gift, gifts, heirlooms, inspiration, inspirational memory gift, legacies, love, memorial for funeral, memorial poem for family member, memorial poetry, mourning poem, poetry for wake, poetry to honor deceased person, wake, wakes
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Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Mourn Me Not For I Live On Part I of IV
Today I am showing a piece called “Mourn Me Not For I Live On.” This was originally written on commission to commemorate the life of a well-loved and very accomplished father, grandfather and husband. He and his wife traveled quite a bit, and this poem commemorated that aspect of his life, and their life together. It was etched on a wooden plaque and placed next to the photos at his memorial service. People were very touched, I am told. This has n0w been etched on picture matting with room for a photo of the person being honored. I think it works for almost anyone. I hope you like it.
- A Poem to Honor a Special Person
Mourn Me Not For I Live On (Part I)
Mourn me now for I live on;
there are places still to go.
I’ve been blessed so many ways
and ways I don’t yet know.
Life has changed but is not gone –
mourn me not for I live on.
I’ve traveled many highways –
there are many roads to roam.
But on every road I traveled,
I mapped my way back home.
I took those roads to wondrous sites,
to their wondrous ends.
Still I loved to come back home
to family and friends.
Copyright Daniel Mark Extrom 20090-2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: "daniel mark picture poems", gift, gifts, heirlooms, legacies, love, memorial, memorial for funeral, memorial for wake, memorial poem, memorial poem for family member, memorial poetry, poem for funeral, poem to honor deceased family member, poetry, poetry for memorial service, poetry for wake, poetry to honor deceased person
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