a shell by day
a man of flesh and blood
by candlelight
against the world by day
arriving home
in love with life by night
a love arrives
for your vespertine heart
endless night
Category: death
A Journey to Rest
heavy falling snow
serious solemn faces
outside the old church
gentle, pushed into the hearse
transported to rest awhile
The Letter
A letter entered the letterbox.
A crisp envelope of ivory with
Parchment-thick paper dated today.
Good news, Kerree, your time has now come.
Afraid, I turn the letter over to see
the title, ‘Making death easier’.
Gathering thoughts seems to surround me.
Further down, the words read, ‘Activate Today’
with several graphic diagrams.
A knock at the door scares the old cats.
The man says, ‘Hello, there has been a
clerical error. Your death isn’t required.’
I return the letter steadily.
Another Day
under the full moon
not wanting to say goodbye
on that final day
doing deals with the divine
soul sale for another day
In Life, In Death
in life, you sit alone
acquaintances, two friends
tears of loneliness
in death, crowds mourn
a moving elegy from whom?
fighting over caviar
The Olive Tree
Looking for you in every grain of sand
I found you by the shade of an Olive Tree
Screaming your name towards heaven
You cannot be found amongst the bombs
Listening to the sound of the seashore
We were married to the smell of our roses
Crying over what remains of your body
I lost you by the remains of an Olive Tree
Conflicted by Liberation
Each day flowed in compartments
waking at a time chosen by someone else
Working from fog-covered dawn to the darkness of night
whispering to the wind of dreams
Earning a place at the coward’s table
watching comrades die, fall into death, and become death
Whispering hope to our unseen God
enveloping my sorrow when liberation gave us a chance
For Dad
a hot wind blows
through my clothes to burn my skin
as I think of you
resting in a place so far from the sea
so that you could
be close to the son you loved so much
reduced to ash
I think of you resting without adventure
and I wonder
if I should have given you to the sea
My Daughter
My daughter’s scared of death,
yet the dead live all around us.
She cries to me about the ghosts,
yet the ghosts won’t harm us.
My daughter shivers at the corners,
yet there is no one to scare us.
She tells me of the evil monsters,
yet there is no evil to touch us.
My blossoming daughter, she runs,
yet dead sorrow cannot touch us
for she lives
and
I am dead
Broken Breaths
All the words we never said
the many promises we couldn’t keep
All the hate and anguish
the desire for games and control
Now, between your broken breaths
you attempt to put the wrongs right
All the life you had left your shell
you lay in a bed that is not your own lifeless
With “I love you” on your blue lips
C & K 