Monuments to the Dead
As the hour grows late
The silence of solitude
Interrupted,
By the haunting creak
That telltale squeak,
Of an ancient gate
Once opened
But now
Swinging closed
By an unseen hand
Imposing and towering
Tipped with terror
Unforgiving
Sharpened spears
Of cold shuddering iron
Slowly closing in
As darkness falls
The night does call
Again and again
To trap the dead within
Waiting silently
The grey void
Flourishing between
Light and night
Dusk begins
Its silent cleanse
Chasing things
Remnants,
Some remain
But soon to go away
Erased,
By splinters of sunlight,
Replaced
With tendrils of dark
Slithering in the spaces
Shaded refuge
Hiding spaces
The courtyard filling
With long shadows
The void tipping
Darkness winning
Grey becomes black
Stone corners
Filling with emptiness
With sadness
And despair
Forgotten dreams
Intertwining,
Interweaving
With that yet unseen
Until the finality
The last piercing glare
Disappears
Until the ‘morrow
Banished over the horizon
And then silence
Ushers in the nighttime
An unsettling gloom
Cold and clammy
Pallbearer of the night
Rolling clouds
Acrid winds
Discomfort,
Uneasiness above
The changing of the guard,
And the landscape
Bending grass
Rebranded
As darkened sickles
Slicing indiscriminately
Cutting through the night
Mist on the walkways
To the left and to the right
Obscuring
Things hidden beneath
While high above
Branches extending
Stout trees bending
Angry claws
Of leafless trees
Reaching
Without seeing
Grabbing
Tearing at the silence
Before retreating
Repositioning
But never stopping
Echoes of hardened ground,
Every direction
And all around
Moonlight soaked granite
Windswept marble
Crumbling stone
While below,
The dead wait
For the summoners,
The mystics,
Nightwalkers,
Spirit guides
And tongue-speakers
Unseen
But forever present
On the surface,
Monuments to the dead
With different
Dates and words
Timeless memories
Etched in infamy
For everyone
…or no one at all
Additional Reading
What’s the Price to Buy Your Soul?
- Imbolc 2023 – A Purification Ritual for Spring - January 15, 2023
- Bone Magick – The Use of Bones in Witchcraft, Divination, and Spellwork - January 11, 2023
- Ritual for January’s Full Wolf Moon 2023 - December 31, 2022
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