From the recording Celtic Lamentations, Healing for Twelve Months And A Day….
These lyrics are based on a poem by Mary Fry, written in 1932. It speaks to the mourner's need to know that the loved one has moved on to a better place, and to the idea of the divine reflected in nature. In its repetitions and nature imagery, it calls to mind medieval Irish poetry written in monastic communities.
Lyrics
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and sigh
I am not here.
Do not cry.
I am a thousand winds
that swiftly blow.
I am the diamond glint
on newly fallen snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the soft and gentle autumn rain.
When you wake from sleep
in the early morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft, starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and sigh
I am not here.
Do not cry.