A collection of sad poems of loss, or goodbyes

I wanted a place to put some poems I came across. This hub is dedicated to the "sadder" side of poetry, by some favorite, and not so well known artists. A place to come back to, I hope to share what I have found and not keep it to myself.

I recall taking literature courses in college and so many of us loved poetry and the exposure to new poets we had not read before. Most often, I am drawn to poems of beauty and joy and life and love. This is another side of life, a very real side of it that doesn't get as much "air time" as it were. I think that while some could say it is wallowing in what could be sad, that others might say that its ok to feel what one feels during times of sorrow. Reading poems from people that have experienced their own losses can help others know they are not alone in their own pain. It can help to give us perspective, and appreciate the good all around us. There is a time for sorrow, and a time for laughter. A time for all things. As you look at some of these, feel free to share more, or let me know about a favorite poet of yours. We can learn a lot from each other. Thank you for reading this hub. I hope to do another hub sometime, having more to do with happy things, joyful things in life to be thankful for :)

A loss of something ever felt I, by Emily Dickinson

A loss of something ever felt I
The first that I could recollect
Bereft I was -- of what I knew not
Too young that any should suspect

A Mourner walked among the children
I notwithstanding went about
As one bemoaning a Dominion
Itself the only Prince cast out --

Elder, Today, a session wiser
And fainter, too, as Wiseness is --
I find myself still softly searching
For my Delinguent Palaces --

And a Suspicion, like a Finger
Touches my Forehead now and then
That I am looking oppositely
For the site of the Kingdom of Heaven --

The Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love, By William Butler Yeats

Pale brows, still hands and dim hair,
I had a beautiful friend
And dreamed that the old despair
Would end in love in the end:
She looked in my heart one day
And saw your image was there;
She has gone weeping away.

Loss and Gain, By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When I compare
What I have lost with what I have gained,
What I have missed with what attained,
Little room do I find for pride.

I am aware
How many days have been idly spent;
How like an arrow the good intent
Has fallen short or been turned aside.

But who shall dare
To measure loss and gain in this wise?
Defeat may be victory in disguise;

The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

Pain in Pleasure, By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

A THOUGHT ay like a flower upon mine heart,
And drew around it other thoughts like bees
For multitude and thirst of sweetnesses;
Whereat rejoicing, I desired the art
Of the Greek whistler, who to wharf and mart
Could lure those insect swarms from orange-trees
That I might hive with me such thoughts and please
My soul so, always. foolish counterpart
Of a weak man's vain wishes ! While I spoke,
The thought I called a flower grew nettle-rough
The thoughts, called bees, stung me to festering:
Oh, entertain (cried Reason as she woke)
Your best and gladdest thoughts but long enough,
And they will all prove sad enough to sting !

If pain for peace prepares, by Emily Dickinson

If pain for peace prepares
Lo, what "Augustan" years
Our feet await!

If springs from winter rise,
Can the Anemones
Be reckoned up?

If night stands fast -- then noon
To gird us for the sun,
What gaze!

When from a thousand skies
On our developed eyes
Noons blaze!