When this last breath dissolves into the dust,
the gentle lambs will call upon the wind
or wheat will glisten, and bend, light entrust,
or crows will settle on Spartan, thin trees,
or cold covered the land and sky alike
an act of homage ploughs the furrowed soil
and dive of hawk at will, with such a strike,
my birth and death reveal in nature’s toil.
My last out breath becomes the final act,
no marks of my departure will be found,
my life dissolves upon the simple fact,
I fade away from stories I expound,
those spices, cardamom, and cinnamon,
a blend of taste no longer rests on tongue,
nor ground of lump of ginger adds upon
and monks engage in chant to fuse among.
Pursued events devoid of merit’s worth,
my life lasted no longer than a flash,
and sees the blessings truth to then unearth,
and years gone by, a mark with just a dash,
allowing wind’s embrace, a fading form,
meets gentle sway of late ripening rye,
no days to dance, no more a life to warm,
I have ushered in my final goodbye.
I kissed farewell. No church service or prayer,
so that the trees revere the shade and sun,
where squirrels scramble on the branches bare,
ear-perks, the rabbit halts in hedgerows run,
a lark does hover, and makes its voice sing,
I whisper last rites marking life’s short fling,
no requiem, no mass, I need to show,
yet make my bow to butterflies on wing.
For my last prayer, I shall say just “thank you”.
as my last breath becomes the wind on land,
and know my cells dissolved in grains of sand.
From Poems from the Edge. Published 2012