Death

Whose these weary branches,
spreading wide and free?
Whose this heart warm and strong?
It’s me! It’s me!
It’s me!

The head doth oft its eyelids lower,
Heaven crowns the sight –
Morning dew weighs
down my branches,
Yes, it’s me! It’s
me! It’s me!

The wood burns to molten ash
from inside - out the tree;
Now deep, black coral
Drapes my branches,
Yes, it’s me! It’s
me! It’s me!

Now doth a rough wind sing and sigh
From the Northern sea,
Blowing down the ranges whistling,
It’s me! It’s me!
It’s me!

The tree cracks;
Branches break
The trunk snaps -
Gusting furiously, the unholy wind
Strips the bark -
And naked sighs:
It’s me! It’s me!
It’s me!

A shell, dry and hollow – empty still
No nests, leaves or shade to thrill.
Where is the shadow of the tree?
It’s me! It’s me!
It’s me!

Then the dozer pulled
the final roots from me;
the wisdom teeth had gone,
from me, from me,
from me.

A wheelbarrow took my thousand eyes
For everyone to see.
Here is the skeleton of the tree.
Whose ashes are these?
- they asked,
It’s me! It’s me!
It’s me!

Elementary particles remain,
Clinging through the mighty air,
Molecules, atoms swirl round and round
Carbon, nitrogen on the ground;
Breathed in by children on the swings -
Transformed, transfixed, fused, remixed.

Whose atoms are these?
I said to me.
The tree? the free? the tears? the fears? –
The Kraken wakes: I am an idea,
Yes, it’s me!
It’s me! It’s me!
I cannot die – I’m in the sky -
In the domain of the quantum sea:
Yes, I, the atom and I, the tree.
It’s me. It’s me.
It’s me!

Ahhh, well, my dear…
We shall see,……see…….see……

We shall see.

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Copyright © 2010 Raphael
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