brown grass, green roots still clinging
to life in the red clay earth
covered now by tiny white crystals of frost
deep purple sky fading
still punctured with stars
still smudged with clouds
time slows down, no insects chirp
no birds sing, no winds blow
a moment of silence for the departed
an hour of reverence to which
all creatures strangely obey
i walked across cobblestones in the
last dying gasp of night
with day threatening to break across
the sky and my soul
i left a white flower on a grave
overgrown with twisted weeds
i paused at the cemetery gate
pale fingers wrapped around
the blackness of the bars
to give a single nod, almost a bow.
and the world awakes :
the blanket of dawn,
a thousand candles behind the mountain
spreads its yellow tendrils over
the black silhouettes of trees
and blurry gray hills
bleeding life back into
a world stripped of all color
like a black & white photograph
thrown into the fire. |
Submission Name: One Hour Before Sunrise.
