poemblog – Hearts Still Care

Second Night

A diya, a picture and ashes,
All that’s left of your life,
And the memories you made,
The love you gave, despite strife.

What’s the use of my tears
Shed now before this light?
You’ve left and I’ve failed
To keep a grip this quiet night.

I didn’t falter seeing your meds,
Or your clothes, or your food,
I laughed with Zuri and a friend –
I thought I was doing good.

But morning came and I
Turned to your ashes and face;
I saw the diya flickering,
And I collapsed without grace.

How do I know love’s here,
Though you have died?
I feel it in each sob,
In each tear I just cried.

I let you go today;
I let you go, to sleep;
You are not in pain now
I, yet alive, must weep –

I cry for the love I had:
That which you showered on me;
I bid Death take it away
And it can no longer be –

I saw your body burn –
I saw the love you gave die –
I have met Death before –
I no longer ask why.

If I asked it of you,
I know you would stay –
Alive, you hobbled to me,
Though cancer barred your way.

But I sought peace for you –
Love makes it very sad –
I had you put to sleep,
Now it drives me mad –

You’re no longer in pain
So Death commands I weep –
Because as I let you go –
Our love I get to keep.

I don’t appeal to a higher power;

Because victims have called to no reply;

And since the light itself does not bring sight,

Why not ask of the dark that made hope die?

I don’t believe in true dark and pure light;

Because as monsters go, once you zoom in,

You discern each villain, who kills and rapes

And tortures, once was – or still is – human.

As such, there are some elites who profit

From the deaths of the hell bringers and ghouls.

If I must choose the lesser evil,

Let the fools be the judge of cruel tools.

We know the gods we pray to won’t bother;

But I believe humans as demons abound,

Who will, in the universal law of time,

Drag themselves, screaming, into the hard ground.