Do not
stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
- Mary Elizabeth Frye -
A Short History of The Poem
June 19, 2011 by Bruce A. Walker
For nearly 70 years, the poem "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep"
has provided comfort to mourners the world over. The origins
of the poem remained a mystery for over half a century when Mary
Elizabeth Frye of Baltimore admitted she had written the verse.
Evidently, Mary Frye and her husband had a young
Jewish girl living with them whose mother in Germany was ill.
Unable to return to Germany because of the mounting anti-Semantic
unrest, the young girl was not able to be with her mother when she
died.
The girl is reported to have told Mary she never had a chance to
stand by her mother's grave and shed a tear.
Mary wrote "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep"
to express her feelings about life and death. According to
Mary "the words just came to me".
In 1998, Abigail Van Buren, the famed newspaper
columnist "Dear Abby", reportedly confirmed that Mary
Elizabeth Frye is indeed the author of the poem.
Bruce A. Walker is
founder and President/CEO of DataPlex Technologies, a
company specializing in .NET application development, web
design and development, and internet marketing.
Read more about "Do Not Stand
At My Grave And Weep" at
wikipedia.org
Poem of the Week 
