BLUE
On a green island between
the sea of blue and the sky of blue
they store away their fathers and mothers
for years after they are dead
until the bones are free
of flesh from skull to toe
and then they wrap them in white
and build a festive pyre
and bring gifts--fruits and ornaments--
for them to have forever
and the bones and gifts ablaze
send up their swirls of white smoke
over the waters into the sky
thinning and thinning as the last flames die
and then they feel sure the feet of the dead
will touch the island green no more
and they say their parents are finally freer than free
in the blue of everything.
end
23 September 2000 Copyright
© 2000 Richard
P. Richter
BLUE On a green island between the sea of blue and the sky of blue
they store away their fathers and mothers for years after they are dead
until the bones are free of flesh from skull to toe
and then they wrap them in white and build a festive pyre
and bring gifts--fruits and ornaments-- for them to have forever
and the bones and gifts ablaze send up their swirls of white smoke
over the waters into the sky thinning and thinning as the last flames die
and then they feel sure the feet of the dead will touch the island green no more
and they say their parents are finally freer than free in the blue of everything. |
23 September 2000 Copyright
© 2000 Richard
P. Richter