An Unheard Elegy

You left me by the solitary stone,
far from the holy land where the alabaster hills
ignite the horizon in hues of jonquil and goldenrod.
I watch over the natural obelisk,
straining to make out any sign of an epitaph
upon the smooth, grainy surface.
But all I see is the shadow
of my own burial-shrouded form
like a leper, returning a lifeless stare.
You called me to this place,
where we used to frolic in the olive sands
casting stones into stagnant puddles
like coins into a fountain,
in search of some auspicious fate.
You crowned the headstone with my high heel shoe
like a flaming red beacon to bring me
from my deathbed, only to walk on without me.
The branches of this lonely white tree,
which grows where nothing else shall live,
wave at you in my place.


Written based on Salvador Dali's painting "The Ambivalent Image"
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/salvador-dali/ambivalent-image