Death Poems

Good day YC Community.

Before I begin the question, I would like to explain the background to this piece. i'm not one for finding good poetry and such, let alone poetry on death. This piece I'm writing is my first major choral piece, and is dedicated to my brother, who died in a freak accident in 1995. He was my twin and I feel I owe this much at least to him.

In addition to using excerpts from the Dies Irae, I would really like to use some other death poems, or any short passages on death. I'm trying to find something Judaic and one Buddhist. The Buddhist being from the Japanese heritage of my family, the Judaic being the Eastern European Jew in my family, the section from the Requiem Mass being my adoption of Western Music as my entire life.

Does anyone have anything to offer?

Many thanks in advice.

PS. I'm probably going to use the Quid Sum Miser section of the Dies Irae

Sorry I can't help, but this belongs in the Composer's Headquaters section

Moved.

Well, I'd recommend just using google's advanced search options. I've looked, and found, quite a myriad of latin texts pertaining to death (among other things). A lot of University Libraries have online catalogs full of various things - including what your looking for. Good Luck and I hope you post the results.

What you're talking about here is something very personal that has to do a lot with your family's history and your personal relationship to your family and lost twin.

As you understand, it is very difficult for us to identify with your situation, let alone suggest something that will reflect your own personality and your relationships with your family. It is almost impossible.

In my opinion, composition is all about choices. Therefore, the choice of text is another choice that you have to undertake, and in a piece which is so personal as this you should try and find a text that expresses you and that you connect with, instead of just asking people over the internet to do that for you. You will know when you come across such a text, but we won't.

As a side note, Death Poems is a term used to describe Japanese Haiku's (not necessarily related to Buddhism or Buddhist ideals) which were written at the point of death of a poet. So a Death Poem might not necessarily be "about" death, but it was written about the time of death, and they are the last poems of that person. You can find more here and here.

What about N

What about N

Yes... right! Sorry, won't happen again! :toothygrin:

I can relate. i lost my twin sister around the same year and I understand the need to write something for your brother. With that said, you won't find what you want from us. The relationship between siblings is special and unique and even more so with your womb buddy.

The best you can do is go and send hours at a library reading through poems or write something your else. Either way, I wish you luck.

I suppose you all have a good point in what you say. while the idea of spending hours toiling over poems at a library isn't quite appealing, it may be my only option in this scenario.

Many thanks for your sympathy. Tata

PS. please close this thread.