Emerson Park



There’s snow there now where once she lay
   Alone that Autumn eve,
And though that day seems far away,
   I still lamenting grieve

For she—a daughter, mother, friend—
   She pined, I’m sure, in grief:
For hard distraught there came her end
   By Death, that surly thief.

She roamed, she roamed through deepest dark,
   Alone, no friend to guide,
And when she came upon that park
   There on a bench she died.

No tear went forth, nor word was said,
   To her who lay asleep—
Til angels by her bed were led
   In solace ever deep.

“Awake, dear child, slumber’s past”,
   They said in one accord ...
“Come to the warmth and light at last,
   For therein is the Lord”.



An Elegy on the Passing of Heather Tripler
Nov. 16. 1973
Oct. 9. 2008

About this poem

On October 10th, 2008, a woman entered my life who I've never met, and who I'll never forget. When I arrived home from work that day there was a story on the news about a woman who was found dead on a park bench in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was very young, only 34, homeless, and died there alone in the open elements. Her name was Heather Tripler. I can't even begin to explain the overwhelming grief and saddened that hit me after having heard this—a grief and sadness that is fresh with me still. A few days later it snowed, and as I stood there by the front door watching it calmly descend, I couldn’t stop thinking about her—homeless and by herself, all alone in that park. This is when I knew that I had to write about her. I promised myself that I would allow the poem to come to me on its own, to never force it, and to scribe every word as if Heather were standing there next to me. Two years later the poem was complete. Initially, I was just going to keep the poem t 

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Written on October 09, 2010

Submitted by Vixility on October 09, 2023

51 sec read
61

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ XXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 873
Words 173
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

John W. May

John W. May has lived in Colorado all his life. He currently works in the field of ophthalmology and loves to mountain bike and read about history. John first became a lover of poetry in 2008 after having read a poem by John Milton. He has been reading and studying the works of various poets since. His favorite poets are Emily Dickinson, Fyodor Tyutchev and W. B. Yeats. more…

All John W. May poems | John W. May Books

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