Requiem - a poem by Chris Zachariou

funeral candles

We close her eyes

we kiss her forehead
then darkness for eternity.

An ashen moon
drips blood on thirteen
white carnations

and

four crippled swallows
pull her chariot
up to a wounded sky.

she rises to the heavens
she is one with the angels
she is one with the stars

Chants and prayers

"earth to earth"
“ashes to ashes”
"dust to dust"

olive leaves
burning in the censer.

Her grave
unsated, gaping,
it commands its dues—

a body
a scattering of earth
a glass of oil
a slice of bread

then we walk away
and she is all alone

she rises to the heavens
she is one with the angels
she is one with the stars

and

fifteen tear-soaked carnations

mourn the fateful day.