125918  Poems Read Home Login

 Spirit Chimes

Legacy of Ash





Dear children of tomorrow,
beneficiaries of our place in the order of things:

It's true what they said, we didn't listen to the Earth,
though it could speak and sing, bleed and cry
just like you.

Even now cicadas are outrattling, outliving my
stream of thought. They sizzle like some kisses
I remember, and make the feral, hot-tar summer of 1978
dance again.

Yes, we swam in rivers that would never be that naive
again and surrendered in the soft combat of wild forests,
the kind you dream about in your vagabond sleep,

and you hate us for the the conspicuous gold fields and
foaming hillsides our eyes reaped without effort and wonder
why we were so sad when we had bees and air
not yet sick with chemical diseases and oceans like a
psychedelic broth, an immortal simmer of everything that
lived or will live, not your banquet of plastic
the last fish swallow and curse.

And at night we could watch, though we rarely did, the
vain Cassiopeia imprisoned in jewels and other actors in
a tin-lantern theater until too many fake stars bleached them
into a grainy sky.

Some kill the ones they love by inches
because they hate their lives and don't
feel enough.

We killed because we didn't
feel enough.

Beloved children, take our gift to you:
Inherit our poison, our ashes, the scraps from our
long, mad feast.

Piece together the shards of our empire
where we loved our manufactured joy more than
what was free.

Ponder the psychotic joke we told at your expense
and dream of another planet,
still a proverb without words,
still volumes of poems,
each one a life—

a world equally endless and small,
both mother and daughter,
sane and unsold,
safe in your arms.


Patricia Joan Jones


To read more of my work go to: My Poetry List











©2000 - 2022, Individual Authors of the Poetry. All rights reserved by authors.

Visit My Home Page | Start Your Own Poetry Site | PoetryPoem
[ Control Panel ]  [ Today's Poetry - ALL Poets ]   [ Search ]



monique Message from Monique - Free videos for your poetry. Check them out Go to Poetry Poem youtube channel and get the embed  
YouTube
dreamweaver POETRY BY KRIS ~ DREAMWEAVER - ~WELCOME TO DREAMLAND~ Read my Poems to Know me. I am in my poems.  
dreamweaver
poet5170 Poetry by Elsie - *WELCOME TO MY WORLD* ~ Read my poems full of fact, fiction and fantasy.  
poet5170
malibupoetess Life Lines by Malibu Poetess - Straight forward prose and poetry on life, love, joy and disillusionment.  
malibupoetess
norrie5 Message in poetry - personalised poetry, red heartshaped bottle extra special gift for a loved one  
norrie5
waterdragon Our Next Poet Laureate! YAYA! - Remarkable contemporary poetry by award-winning author of Out of Cullen Street (A House of Madness)  
waterdragon
athanase Poetry by athanase - Feedback and critique requested.  
athanase

celestialeternity     bonafidepoet      kuopenyung      mypoems477      dcdrifter  View All Poets
Newest Item: Trying Our Best
Trying Our Best Author: Mark V. Markov To practice sinning And to live in pr ... More
Added: 2024-04-26  My Poetry List  PoetryPoem.com      Get a Free Site       Blogs     Stories     Premium Sites