Cemetery

A Poem

Photo by Manuel Rheinschmidt on Unsplash

It’s the west gate entry that ushers you in
Quiets the soul, hushes heart’s commotion
All is suspended like stagnancy’s grin
The bell’s still, no resounding emotion.

A place to be plain, a place to be with.

The road continues down as sun shines through,
Its warmth serving as the reminder
of darkness that luminance outgrew
Oh, guiding light! Following is fonder.

Head stones hug the foot path ever closely.
Like death’s well threatening breath on the soul,
But just then on is St. John, in rosary
He’s homely, in his hand a sacred scroll

Despite the mausoleum’s shadow cast,
The lull lake beckons like Gennesaret
To kneel, to leave all that seemed steadfast
Hovering the waters, a creation duet

At the thoroughfare’s edge, there he waits for you,
Sheathed in old holy weathered cement.
The way he looks at you assigns value
And makes you wonder what the vapor meant.
Just beyond the gate, the cars drive hitherto
In a withering, withering decent.

Returning to the land of time awash,
The bell then begins to ring triumphantly,
Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh

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I’m in the final stages of editing my biggest project yet on Heathland Hymns, an audio drama called Scenes from Kirchenkampf: Karl and Elizabeth (see a preview here). Until its release, I’ll be posting short poems like this along with new installments of my Dostoyevsky read-aloud.

Baylor Reads: Dostoevsky

While you wait, you can also celebrate the 15th anniversary of Terrence Malik’s Tree of Life with a recent retrospective I wrote on it, which can serve as either a great introduction to the film for those who have never seen it or a deep dive with new insights for fans.