Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ashes to Ashes

Over at Abbey of the Arts, Christine once again welcomes us to a poetry party where she posts a picture and invites us to submit a poem. The theme this time is Ashes to Ashes. All are welcome to come and read (or post).


Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
From dust we are, to dust return.

By caskets standing,
We hear the words
from priest
or preacher..
or from
God.

Melancholy though it is,
Our lives are frail
and short
and gone
as if
They never were.

When leaves are green and life is new
No thoughts of life's brief mystery!
Our bodies feel the green
of life
And live false immortality!

As life goes past and we begin
to feel the brevity of time,
We know the truth
of "dust we are..."
And wait for when
our time
Will come.


Sometimes through fear,
or grief or pain,
Sometimes through darkness
Leaves grow dry
Now life is dim and dust
and ash,
Sweet green becomes a memory.

And as the strength of nascent life
Turns brown and crisp
and fleeting, blown
by winds of time and loss and age
Our souls begin
to long
for Home.

As we release
The trees of earth,
Our fragile frame,
"this mortal coil"
From dust we are,
To dust we go,
O Death, your
breath
is cold!

But wait,
This earthly phase is not
Our final place of bursting green!
We feel the surge of life and growth
and fresh hope of Infinity.

Yes, dust we are,
Yet hidden here,
Divine spark of eternity!
To dust we are, to ashes go...

Eternal Tree of Life begins!

3 comments:

Dr. Laura Marie Grimes said...

Gorgeous, Singing Owl--thank you.

Anonymous said...

Yes, indeed gorgeous, I love that last stanza, quite a fitting climax.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this. Last night as the ashes were imposed I thought of how short life is. But it really isn't after all.