Death

“Slain”

I will leave with the sun
When the day has begun.
With the leaves falling around,
Sightless and without sound
I will walk the farther shore,
Where my soul has never walked before.

And you may see me that day,
Even hear the words I have to say…
The sparrow’s heart may fly
Upon the breath of those who die.
The robin may sing from out her breast,
To all the damned and the blessed,
As shadows lengthen across the dawn,
When the light of my lantern has gone.

Between the gates of death and dreams
Flow the rivers and the streams
Of tears I no longer will shed,
And goodbyes I never had said.
But in the iron trees which surround
The sleepers of that consecrated ground,
THEY will write our names
With the ash of my remains.

Come with me to the meadow
Where we swore, one day, to go.
Below the stars, and in the rain
I promise we will meet again;
In cumulous thrones of white
Robed in the silence of the night—
Until we dress in the rising sun
Of a life newly begun.

© 2021 Marten Hoyle