May They Rest In Peace Poem by Francis Duggan

May they rest in peace of the dead we do say
But peace it is with them where-ever they lay
They are past all sorrows and past every care
And I feel that prayers for the dead is a waste of prayer.

Not all of the dead their praises we wish to sing
But behind them the challenges life to them did bring
Beyond fame and glory and beyond pomp or shame
A corpse it is lifeless and all corpses the same.

Whether they died as paupers or in life greatness did attain
Of the dead only memories with the living remain
And of this so called hereafter of heaven or hell
Is there one living person of their existence can tell?

And though many with what I say may well disagree
Suppose we all look at life and at death differently
Beyond my Earthly existence only darkness I see
And faith and hope loses out to the cynic in me.