Monday 30 September 2013

Unbidden

photo by Mark Haley
Death will come unbidden,
it will not come today
it will come tomorrow.  

He will be tomorrow’s ghost.  

He half expects it,
his mind played out its scene a hundred times before.   
He cannot envision pain
rather seeing blood spill
from imagined gaping wounds. 
His wish is if and when it comes
it will be quick. 

It is.

This theatre, this theatre of war,
he plays but a minor role;
he is expendable, no glory in his death,
no rapturous applause 
at his final curtain call.

There will be no homecoming,
no coffin draped in national flag. 
His remains are no remains at all,
mere fragments scattered on a foreign land,
fragments that putrefy and leach into the soil.

He is here, on this hillside,
his life extinguished where this tree now stands,
he is part of it,
it absorbed his memory
tapped it through its searching roots,
its twigs and branches now his arms and hands.

He is unaware
as his leaves turn blood-red and fall;
it is the cycle of things,
lines quite never understood,
lines never learnt in war. 
He has become the Earth. 
It is the nature of things.

Anna :o]

Inspired by the image provided by Tess at The Mag and (some of) the words provided by Brenda at The Sunday Whirl.  Thanks Tess and Brenda.


35 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

Your beautiful words capture the sense of the image perfectly...

Stan Ski said...

:)

Optimistic Existentialist said...

This is totally epic...

Jinksy said...

And so the wheel turns... you captured its spinning...

brenda w said...

You connect death beautifully to nature. I love this piece. Thank you.

Brian Miller said...

wow, what a moving tale you spun from the picture...so sad how many fall in minor roles in war...names many of us will never know...i am glad though he lives on giving life in the after...

Preeti S. said...

Captivating work. So vivid and thought-provoking. Loved it.

Gillena Cox said...

luv your use of 'unbidden' especially since i had to look it up before using it in my piece


much love...

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Well crafted.


Whirl of Disjointed Bits and Pieces

Leovi said...

Yes, I find very interesting your poem, death, hope I caught sleeping!

Manzanita said...

A peaceful thought of becoming entangles with the roots of trees. Trees, trees..... I love trees so much. I keep planting them and the chemtrails keep killing them. I wonder if they can feel love.

Lyn said...

Breathtaking..remembered always in the heart..so woven into nature...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful capture of the life, death, life cycle...heartfelt and moving.

Elizabeth

Silent Otto said...

So beautiful Anna , i hope that i too will continue as part of the living earth , the only Goddess i have ever known , cheers ....

Susan Anderson said...

This is deeply beautiful.

=)

~T~ said...

What a way to go! I like that the tree lives on. Well done...

Sabra Bowers said...

You've written an interesting coming of death tale. And death will come! Well done.

Laurie Kolp said...

I really enjoyed this, Anna.

Anonymous said...

This is so haunting and so beautiful, I wish I could write this well you are astonishing

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thanks for your kind comments folks!

(Still more excellent entries to read at The Mag and Sunday Whirl - I will read them all (eventually).)

Cheers. Anna :o]

annell4 said...

This is certainly one of my all time favorites....!!!

Crayotic Ramblings said...

This feels so perfectly like the image.

He always comes, doesn't he?

Brava.

Arron Shilling said...

A grand sweep anna! narrowing to a fine point. for all the blast and fuss of us, we are ultimately earth regardless: so why not fight for what we believe in? with forever to rest on our chest. love and peace :) x

Tigerbrite said...

Yes, you tell it as it is. Dust to dust in this theatre of warfare.

Susan Lindquist said...

it is indeed the nature of things ... we are only a small blip on the continuum ...

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Beautiful. I like "Death will not come today it will come tomorrow" it's so final

Gillena Cox said...

"He has become the Earth" nicely summed up


Thanks for stopping by my blog Anna

much love...

Amrit Sinha said...

Such beautiful use of words ... mindblowing !!!

Unknown said...

Awesome. Strong writing. Esp. the theatre verse and the last.
Haunting... I can sense the fog rising.

Truedessa said...

This was wonderfully penned..I enjoyed it from beginning to end you seemed to have captured
so much from the picture.

flaubert said...

Great read, Annie. Truth.

Pamela

Other Mary said...

This resonates with ancient wisdom Anna, and you've expressed it beautifully.

"it is the cycle of things,
lines quite never understood,
lines never learnt in war."

Lolamouse said...

The cycle of life (and death). You capture it perfectly.

Jenny Woolf said...

"he has become the earth". A wonderful and sad phrase.

Brother Ollie said...

dark poem, but full of truth