Now I am Dust

Now I am dust what will hold me?
I cannot tell, for I die.
I was light before—the sky told me
She had never heard me cry.

Be not afraid of my midnight
Where known moonshine hath not trod,
To a blue delivery bedight
In prayers that need no god.

I dreamed I was an hourglass—
Shattered sands stolen from the tide
And o’er the birthright shores I did pass
Where the thunder bid me ride.


I dreamed I was but a grain
Ah—but what was my weight!
Slaying the toll without a chime:
The right hand of chance and fate
The voice of all risen and slain:
My song the silence that is time.

Now I am dust, shall I drift?
I cannot tell where I lie
If the horizon’s breath shall lift
My slumber to the sky.

I dreamed I was a lullaby
Where the infant spirit settles—
My melody asked the lily why
I cannot be her petals,
For to this rest I may be brave
If she could be my grave.

Now I am dust shall I be
The scythe of a new star’s sigh?
If I am that light make a wish on me
And I will never say goodbye.