FARIEL SHAFEE

 

Death And Remembrance

 

How you burned down

Into ashes, and I watched

That smoke rise up to

The heavens, to the stars,

To a nook beyond my

Reach, and

How I hoped that in that world

 

You would form again

into

Another being or a bird of

Fire, unbeatable, and persisting

With those

Little bits of love and

Warmth that

I never wish to

Lose!

 

Death And Beyond

 

All that remained were the bones.

You grinned – constantly, as though

You had finally won this game.

 

I wanted you to leave,

To let me be,

To free me into

The large world

You had shielded.

 

How scared I am

In that vastness, now, where

You lie still, where you

Cannot return to life to hold me

Tight to

Take away those storms

I do not wish to weather as

I, too, slowly perish!

 

Death And This War

 

They threw you in that

Shallow trench, your chest painted with

Blood, your hands tied in the back, as though

You did not matter to them in

Life or death.

 

There were others with you, those

Who stood in that line, all

Young, all maimed.

 

Now I scream at night --

A shadow

Grabs me, smothers

My voice in my dream.

 

This war has killed the soul

Of those who survived.

 

We watched then

From afar.

No one said a word.

But we cried.

 

We cry still

In that grassy field

Where your

Flesh has

Grown into

Flowers that look up

Straight -- that do not bow,

And where those dreams

Live on.

 

FARIEL SHAFEE