The Dead – Billy Collins

Charles 8 Comments
Charles
03 February 2011

The Dead

The dead are always looking down on us, they say,
while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich,
they are looking down through the glass-bottom boats of heaven
as they row themselves slowly through eternity.

They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth,
and buy discount cialis when we lie down in a field or on a couch,
drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon,
they think we are looking back at them,

which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

Category:    Art and death , Attitudes to death , bereavement , Grief , Immortality , Memorialising

8 Comments

  4. Charles
    Nestov Ratz

    “while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich”

    That’s just beautiful. If I didn’t know better I would think it was a lost work by William McGonagal, the tragedian of Dundee.

    Reply
  6. Charles
    Comfort Blanket

    I’m with Rupert. I came across this poem last year and loved it. But haven’t found quite the right moment to use it. One day soon…

    Reply

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