In The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway writes about the daily lives of three citizens caught in the Siege of Sarajevo: Arrow, Kenan, and Dragan. Arrow is a skillful female sniper that has the task of protecting the cellist, who plays his cello for twenty-two days in memory of the twenty-two people killed just outside his window. Kenan is a middle-aged man who must risk his life every few days to collect water for his family, and Dragan is a man who works at a bakery to receive bread. Galloway shows that even in the toughest situations, we must not give up and let issues drag us down, or moving forward will be impossible. Each of the characters experience pain and death, due to the war, and it makes them struggle to survive each day, scared of death. But after hearing the cellist’ music, they remember their lives before the war, and realize they must keep going, not letting the snipers control their lives. The author also tells us to take risks and stand up for ourselves, and not let someone else decide it for us.

How does the strength and courage from the cellist’ music help the characters? They now control their own lives and move forward to rebuild their beloved city.

I am from paintbrushes, from Crayola and Pringles.

I am from the yellow walls, bright, smooth.

I am from the blooming orchids, the silver lining of the crescent moon.

I am from joyous Christmas dinners and dark brown eyes, from Fanly and Alan and Paulina.

I am from the beautiful works created by an artistic mind and the grease from elbows.

From slugs devouring my brain and exploding rice cookers.

I am from above, a peaceful utopia flowing through the clouds, awaiting for my return home.

I am from Hong Kong, sweet milk tea, soft egg tarts.

From the fresh, gentle breeze on Alaskan waters, the ice dotting the ocean like a field of flowers, and the rushing, foamy Niagara Falls, shining in all the colours of the rainbow.

I am from golden boxes forever passed down from head to head, the key to my past held in my hands.

 

To Be One With Each Other by George Eliot

What greater thing is there for two human souls
than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen
each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,
to share with each other in all gladness,
to be one with each other in the
silent unspoken memories?

This poem is perfect for a wedding since it is about becoming one with another to go on the journey of life. When two people marry, they make an agreement to be together for the rest of their lives. To Be One With Each Other expresses how wonderful it is to make that bond with someone. Sharing warm memories together and helping each other through the tough times. Having a partner that will never leave his or her other half alone. This poem highlights these beautiful things about marriage and if read at a wedding it will definitely create a smile on the couple’s faces.

 

The Comfort and Sweetness of Peace by Helen Steiner Rice

After the clouds, the sunshine,
after the winter, the spring,
after the shower, the rainbow,
for life is a changeable thing.
After the night, the morning,
bidding all darkness cease,
after life’s cares and sorrows,
the comfort and sweetness of peace.

 

The Comfort and Sweetness of Peace is a great poem for a funeral. It shows that life is a cycle, and that death is part of it. The good things in life cannot last forever but what comes afterwards is not necessarily bad. It would be great to read this out, especially to family members and friends that are grieving. The poem would help them mourn and to accept the death of that person. It tells how after all the stresses and pains of life, there is peacefulness once it all ends. It comforts the living that their deceased is now resting in peace, off to a better place.

 

Life by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

ALL in the dark we grope along,
And if we go amiss
We learn at least which path is wrong,
And there is gain in this.

We do not always win the race,
By only running right,
We have to tread the mountain’s base
Before we reach its height.

But he who loves himself the last
And knows the use of pain,
Though strewn with errors all his past,
He surely shall attain.

Some souls there are that needs must taste
Of wrong, ere choosing right;
We should not call those years a waste
Which led us to the light.

 

This poem would suit a graduation situation very nicely. The poem is about making mistakes and how all those mistake get individuals to the end of the year. It is great for graduation since the majority of the student population really dislike school and do not appreciate just how much it does for them. Also, this poem tells them that without all those corrections on their work, without all the detentions and loads of homework, they would not be graduating that day.