Collection of Sad and Uplifting Poems for Students' Graduation  - The Academy of American Poets presents this splended essay on poetry that discusses graduating from school.  A number of poets' work is cited here, including Langston Hughes, Robert Creeley, Rita Dove, and e.e. cummings.

Selection of Joyful and Sad Poetry for Students' Graduations  - The Poetry Foundation presents an abundant section on poetry that is appropriate to use on the occasion of a student's graduation. While some of the poems collected here are sad and reminiscent, others look toward the future with joy and anticipation.

"Sense of Something Coming" - a Sad Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke  - PoemHunter.com provides Rainer Maria Rilke's troubling "Sense of Something Coming."  This poem captures the sense of anxiety and loneliness that can appear after the inevitable post-graduation changes in life.  Rilke begins the poem, "I am like a flag in the center of open space. / I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live it through."

"An Instructor's Dream" - a Poem by Bill Knott  - PoemHunter.com presents American poet Bill Knott's "An Instructor's Dream," a poem that illustrates feelings of loneliness and insignificance felt by a school teacher whose graduating students have come back to spy on his classroom.  There is a rich sadness to this work, as it presents a very different perspective on graduation.