Kit Kelen # 258 St Michael's – the Catholic Cemetery, Tap Seac, Macao - for Chrys

258

St Michael's – the Catholic Cemetery, Tap Seac, Macao

for Chrys 

 

is there among graves

breeze meaning?

summer is endless

winter is too

stone is the city's

still heart

clouds come back

it rains again

pines and figs

and frangipani

the illusion of sleep

dispelled by fresh flowers

as if the truth of them were carved

for time to wash away

and little things are left to weather

toy cars, some rubber gloves

the mums and dads, the tragic young

the ones in uniform

pastors all smiles freed from their flocks

now certain of heaven

sometimes a cross is toppled

vases wilt and bloom

these names like a list the teacher calls

'pack up your things quickly and quietly

it's time

to go home now'

out there it's peak hour

horns and hum

buildings still rise

everyone is getting home

is there among graves

breeze meaning?

stone is the city's

still heart

let any death be sacred to me

no matter how long ago, how far

what's my sadness

to a hill of stone?

so many doubts

one could almost really believe

but no one is sleeping here

there are no ghosts

this is like the hitchhiker's record –

on these certain spins of the globe

were carved the initials 'I was here'

let there never be a stone for me

I won't be a part of this crowd