The Graveyard
The mist housing graveyard grounds
A dark fog I feel upon me
Seeping beneath these earthly mounds
The wrecking cold writhes the bone
Only if the dead could feel
But me, why now in this late hours of wee
What madness that makes me reel
I find myself again, back at home
Is that home, I wonder or is it —
A shadow of illusion
It’s a story often told
No not love, not the kind we know
A morbid desire, oh death it holds
Was it someone I knew, someone I cared
Brings me down here at death’s doorway
I shiver in these highlands of low
A frightening realization upon me dawns
Lone that am I, never had a soul I knew
Then what is it that binds me —
A mystic of conjuration
As I wonder upon this eerie land
A black bird cloaked in devil’s garb
A raven, flies out of the ground
I look up, a fright grips me tight
Like a noose on a dead man’s throat
Does my eyes deceive me, am I driven insane
What greets me in this cold highlands
’Tis beyond yonder, I wonder
Singing a lullaby of despair
Oh death, itself welcomes me here
The temptation of death’s grip grows stronger
Just like the day before and before that
Is today’s my calling, yet again I wonder
Like daylight clearly I see my life dearly
An endless waiting, is it my damnation or salvation
Pained am I, banished am I in life
Burdened with solitude, cursed with a vision
Witnessing life beyond its deathly visage
Death awaits me like a long lost friend
I stand at the crossroads, facing the clairvoyant
Flashes of memory blights my minds
Keeper of graves, watcher of skies
Eternal duty here, me it binds
Standing vigil over the gates of death
As its dour breath past me breezes
Freezes me in this caliginous mist
Finally standing in death’s courtyard, me it teases
The raven mocks me now, humility in dearth
The pain and indignation that it brings
The shaming and ostracisation of the peers
In my vapid vacuum of existence loudly it rings
What is your worth, mocks the raven
As I dig my six feet worth of dirt
The gravedigger I am, always had been
My thoughts ponder upon the raven’s rant
Subdued am I, defiant am I
And yet they exist, such contradictions
Such is the human machinations
As the night trickles away, the fog starts lifting
A new fear grips me as the sun starts brightening
In my grave, I see a dead raven lying
The dread of shame, me it overflows
Cowering in cowardice, realization dawns
Abandoned by death, all alone again
I wonder how many ravens must I kill
The longing for another night, my mind it feels
I get up, turn my back, my thoughts they rave
Musing over a lost opportunity to mark my grave
Alas readers, this is not a story of joy
So forgiveness must I seek for any misplaced hope
Untold stories of everyman, you me and them
Slipping through the cracks hidden behind the wall of shame
No you don’t talk, no you don’t see
So stay that way, you are free
So take your aspersions away with you
Let them walk their path to the graveyard
No matter the burden, how heavy or hard.
