The Funeral

by eucalyptusjoos

Published April 20, 2026

In random bits

I am drowning,

Though there is no burn.

The light has left,

but it is not dark,

just right.

I am floating,

on the verge of an epiphany

over on that liminal space.

A grey lullaby,

sung by someone,

who doesn't know who I am.

Comments & reviews · 2
User avatar
JustMeBeingMe
Review
JustMeBeingMe wrote a review Review · Apr 22

Hi! You're my second mini-review of the day, so again, mini reviews do NOT list everything that's good about your poem, and this is not all the attention your striking poem deserves! That said, i'll do my best.
What hit hardest:
Well, the perspective is a clever idea.
And the 'grey lullaby/ sung by someone/ who doesn't know who I am' - great line there. Grey lullaby, I like the contrast, and also because that is really what a funeral is: comfort and emptiness rolled into one. Someone who doens't know who I am: that one was wow. It can be understood in more than one sense, because who are you, once you're dead?

Can't think of anything for the 'What could be changed' section, so just keep writing x

Thanks for your review!

User avatar
Anonymoss
Review
Anonymoss wrote a review Review · Apr 21

Seems like the funeral is from the dead person's point of view, interesting to say the least. From what I am seeing, the poem is written into parts, the beginning of death (if there is anything like that at all), the actual act of dying and the post death scenario.
"I am drowning,
Though there is no burn"
I might be dumb, but is this because the person's dead? Why would there be burning in drowning? Perhaps burn here doesn't refer to the physical but the emotional feeling, perhaps anger, sadness, jealousy, everything leaving us once we die.
"The light has left,
but it is not dark,
just right."
This must be the actual act of dying, the feeling of light leaving the room. Well, darkness is the absense of light, so that is intriguing.
"I am floating,
on the verge of an epiphany
over on that liminal space.
A grey lullaby,
sung by someone,
who doesn't know who I am."
Beautiful imagery once again, feels like we are experiencing what happened to the speaker after death, a sense of floating, an epiphany, a lullaby, it all seems like ordinary descriptions of life after death until we notice how it is described— 'grey', liminal space and ofcourse, the lullaby being sung by someone who doesn't know who the speaker is and when you end the poem with that line, another thought that comes up is rebirth after death, the speaker is done with death and is again reborn as a child, as an infant,like all of us and is perhaps caressed and sung the lullaby to.

While drowning, ingestion of liquid into the lung irritates delicate tissue and causes a burning feeling. But this 'drowning', which is more like sinking into the haze of death involves no pain. The light and dark is because they have positive and negative connotations respectively, while death is a feeling devoid of such bias. So even though there's no 'light', it's not 'dark' either. I like the end interpretation, I intended to use lullaby for that final 'soothe to eternal sleep' purpose. Thanks for your review<33



You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.
— Stephen King