The Dust of an Age

[ChildofWoz]

It was long ago that you lost your life,
That soul that fled your breast is ancient now;
Survived by close friends’ joy, sadness, and strife,
Blind but for what roots grow in your dust.

So sleep, rest and be quiet, plant deathless
Poppies in your cheeks. These years have changed you,
Lost you, commended you to endlessness;
Though they become your mem’ry, as if wine.

A frame of sun-bleached bones a verdant field,
Yet living and still laid to rest, hoping
For an age of earth and seed that will yield
A bounty in your long-forgotten name.

Dying baby’s breath shudder in your shell,
Clovers lie broken, tainted on your tongue.
Marrow lives in cracked bones with asphodel,
Jaundice haunting petals dressed in ashes.

Forget! Forget that you once lived, or
You should languish, your petaled tomb of earth
In your anguish become a bed of thorns!
The honeyed land to wither in your blight.

Emerge as stardust, slough your tired soul,
And join lost kings hung in earth’s velvet sky
For all to see, from valley to lush knoll;
Forgive your bones, forget them, and fly.

[BrokenLyre]

Thanks for the nice read.

[ChildofWoz]

It had been so long since I had written. I'm happy to shake off the dust and put some heart into writing again.

[Raphael]

It had been so long since I had written. I'm happy to shake off the dust and put some heart into writing again.

Excellent as usual CoW- have you thought about starting a poetry blog?

[ChildofWoz]

Raphael, I hadn't thought of devoting a blog entirely to poetry. If only I were more prolific, I would feel more comfortable with the idea.