To a daughter from the died-in-holocaust Mother... Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye 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 sun 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 circling flight. I am the soft starshine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry: I am not there; I did not die. This consoling elegy had a very mysterious genesis, as it was written by Mary Elizabeth Frye, a Baltimore housewife who lacked a formal education, having been orphaned at age three. She had never written poetry before. Frye wrote the poem on a ripped-off piece of a brown grocery bag, in a burst of compassion for a Jewish girl who had fled the Holocaust only to receive news that her mother had died in Germany. The girl was weeping inconsolably because she couldnt visit her mothers grave to share her tears of love and bereavement. When the poem was named Britains most popular poem in a 1996 Bookworm poll, with more than 30,000 call-in votes despite not having been one of the critics nominations, an unlettered orphan girl had seemingly surpassed all Englands many cultured and degreed ivory towerists in the publics estimation. Although the poems origin was disputed for some time (it had been attributed to Native American and other sources), Fryes authorship was confirmed in 1998 after investigative research by Abigail Van Buren, the newspaper columnist better known as Dear Abby. The poem has also been called I Am due to its rather biblical repetitions of the phrase. Frye never formally published or copyrighted the poem, so we believe it is in the public domain and can be shared, although we recommend that it not be used for commercial purposes, since Frye never tried to profit from it herself.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 21:02:34 +0000
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