Or you might try Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress". It has death as its theme. Kinda. Sorta. Somebody called it "one of the nicer versions of 'can I have a shag, please?' in literature." :-) But it does talk about death and the shortness of our time. http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/marvell1.html Then, Kipling has some interesting stuff: http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard_Kipling/kipling_the_explanation.htm http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard_Kipling/kipling_the_song_of_the_dead.htm Or the pretty strong http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/grave_of_hundred_head.html Pre-Raphaelites and Romantics had oodles of poems on death. Dante Gabriel Rosetti, for instance: http://www.love-poem.org.uk/silentnoon.htm or http://www.themediadrome.com/content/poetry/rosetti_ballad_dead_ladies.htm Then, Thomas Gray's "Elegy written in a country church-yard", one of the better known pieces in English literature: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/Elegy.htm He also has "Ode on the death of a favorite cat" http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=2495 I hope you'll find something you like.

-- erlik