afterlife
afterlife
by Halifax
ancestor worship
swollen riverbanks
churn humanity out
rising in the pews
sentiment collapses
as ghosts dissolve
wafers over tongues
those escaped selves
dimple crooked paths
seeking cloud cover
Lost in an old idea
I see more in them
than scattered ash
It’s me coalescing
historical elements
conspired in being
pieces set afloat
swirl on a current
before gasping under
each speculation
gives myself freely
getting carried away
You dance beautiful
my pent up reserve
erodes like belief
until it’s only us
and I have to deny
I am just watching
The way we move us
is a broken thought
it means nothing
we live on together
escaping language
you and I will emerge
better known unsaid
Only the second elegy I have written. I like this one a bit better than “Letting go of Handshakes”. Liked the person I wrote it for better too. Funny that…
I appreciated the use of water in a river to flesh out (no pun intended) our afterlife. The poem ends with the river ’emerging’ into destination. For me, that would be a lake of fire, but for the poet, it is belonging. Well conceived, sir!