04-17-2016, 06:04 AM
And Let Us Make a Good End
I said of the dead
it would be kinder
to pave the ground
and let them sleep.
I lied. Their nightmares
are loud and the land
groans with their sorrow.
There is no sleep
in peace for them.
Rather we should unpave the earth,
make it soft with gardens,
open it wide with kindness,
and then invite the lost and buried dead
to depart their exile, to arise and go
that last distance,
into that place
they long must have dreamed
where impossible grace
heals unbearable grief.
Let that be
the way it goes,
because we still alive
have much
to atone for.
I said of the dead
it would be kinder
to pave the ground
and let them sleep.
I lied. Their nightmares
are loud and the land
groans with their sorrow.
There is no sleep
in peace for them.
Rather we should unpave the earth,
make it soft with gardens,
open it wide with kindness,
and then invite the lost and buried dead
to depart their exile, to arise and go
that last distance,
into that place
they long must have dreamed
where impossible grace
heals unbearable grief.
Let that be
the way it goes,
because we still alive
have much
to atone for.