The original poem is made up of six (or sometimes eight) rhyming couplets. Various versions exist but, with the bulk of the work being made up of a selection of images preceded by "I am...", the sense is largely the same. The poem addresses the reader/audience with the voice of a deceased person, invoking quite spiritual - but not specifically religious - imagery.
According to the most generally accepted theory, that of Frye's writing the poem, it was originally addressed to a German Jewish girl, a friend of the author. The girl's mother had died back in her homeland, but returning to pay her respects was not possible and Frye wrote the poem as part of her condolences. The text soothes the addressee, reassuring of the deceased's presence everywhere in nature in both its message and its voice, and as such has become very popular poem, and a common reading for funerals.
There is some ambiguity as to the poem's writer, and it was not published by Frye, although she was the only living person to credibly claim its authorship. Frye is near universally cited as the author, and her literary significance is based almost entirely upon it, but other sources, including traditional native American origins, have been suggested over the years.
The middle verse was added in 2007 by Lucie Storrs.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow;
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
Do not stand at my grave and mourn.
I am the dew-flecked grass at dawn.
Where tranquil oceans meet the land
I am the footprints in the sand
To guide you through the weary day.
I am still here; I'll always stay.
When you wake up to morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.
© 2007 Lucie Storrs
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