Friday, December 01, 2006

Cry the Dead


Slowly, the hole is filled with earth, tossed down first by the hands of the beloved and bereft, later shovelled in by anonymous workers - the workers are the only ones with dry eyes and unburdened hearts. His widow slowly drops a mourning bouquet over the fresh earth, while his daughter collapses in front of his marker, sobbing. Looking for support, the little girl reaches a hand to his tombstone, delicately tracing the engraving that served as his legacy and last words:

We are voices,
only voices now,
silent echoes of the vacant
Height,ephemeral,
whispers in the universal night.

We were bodies,
we were humans once,
and proudly drew our breath
along side companion humans -
comrades unto death.

And much like Flander's torch*
only our memories remain
to beg for some miraculous truce
while the world fights on,
the same.

We are voices, only voices now
soft midst wars' alarms
yet still we go on pleading
for a laying down of arms.

Briseis

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this one on her blog..
powerful.

Anonymous said...

excellent stuff! yes, powerful...

Enemy of the Republic said...

I will check out her blog.

mystic rose said...

absolutely amazing! so talented and young!!

Kuan Gung said...

sojourner...she's not very active there lately...I get a kick out of her daily activities...remember this is a young lady, however, with a ton of talent

Kuan Gung said...

I agree polona...warm greetings

Kuan Gung said...

Thank you mystic rose for visiting...

Kuan Gung said...

Well enemy, she doesn't have much there right now...however, when see decides to do something, it's very good...she's very young indeed...

Anonymous said...

I know General :)
I have never seen so many "thumbs up" from you else where :)
I have been reading her archives on and off... I have started reading them from the earliest...
I am getting educated and I try to use the style on my writing...it in turn helps understand/visulize her writing better... I find it totally "capturing". Same goes for some of the other blogs too.
Thank you for bringing her to more light through the earlier post: call of the northern stars.

Kuan Gung said...

sojourner...here's another one here from December 21, 2005

Ocean Born -

Waters break eternal upon a finite shore
as the sands wash away the ocean crashes ever more.

The tide forever pulling an everlasting agony
and everything within its grasp becomes at one with the Sea.

"Ocean-lord! Take my life; waves come cover me let me
embrace the cleansing main and gain immortality.

Captivate me, infinite waters the waves transform
my soul- let me become a child of the deeps and at last be made whole.

"The rushing of the current a child's lullabye,
and as she drifts in ethereal seas-her soul will never die.

Great stuff! Thank you

Anonymous said...

I have read that one kuan. Nice to revisit it again...
reads even better the second time!!

Thank you.

Kalpana said...

Beautifully coined the words. Wonderful...

Neer said...

oh my god!! very touching!

Kalpana said...

Good stuff around...

deepsat said...

amazing!!! its so moving!!

my life.... said...

decribing death in a simple and yet in a beautiful way...

Kuan Gung said...

my life...great point...really...thank you

Kuan Gung said...

it's a young neers... :)
warm greetings my friend...

Kuan Gung said...

Hi kalpana...so nice to see you...

Kuan Gung said...

Hi piika...I agree...warm greetings

Kuan Gung said...

deepsat...greetings and thank you...I agree...clearly I'm a big fan

Arti Honrao said...

A powerful piece of work!
I hope the world learns soon ...



GBU
Arti

kermitjohnson said...

Wow.

I just stumbled across this one. I have been going to a lot of funerals lately, so I can relate,