I didn’t just walk through the graves
I danced in between spaces
Like they do between realms
I flirted back to them as they teased me
Peaking through
The swaying Spanish moss
They reached through the concrete
for my fingers
As mine trailed across the lichen stricken stones
I took my time as I took them in
Like they do
where time doesn’t exist
I read their names out loud
Like past lovers and friends
My chin tilted low in respect to those below
Then craned upwards in awe
Maybe terror
Maybe both
Towards the statues of angels
Stricken with sorrow to look down upon me
I have returned home for some time
Yet they have followed me to my dreams
The woman in the mirror
Whose back is alive and of this earth
Whose front looks at you as a skeleton on the other side
Keeps coming to me with this message:
“With the tongue that still exists in your mouth,
Say our names so we remember who we are
With the meat that still remains on your bones
Give us flesh where ours is no longer
Where the box in your throat still carries a tune
Sing our stories so we may be of song
With your pen as the shovel
Dig up our lives that get to live on
Like the soil
Birthing new life
With every season
For if we came from stardust,
Before we become it again,
Share our names,
Our stories,
So although our hearts have stopped pumping
Our legacy beats on
Until the last burning star
Takes it’s final breath
And ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
We all take our final breath once more.”
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