Dead

  
Dead

They once were here but now are gone,
And no one knows to where.
And when they left, we thought they slept,
Released  from toil and care.

The days went by, the weeks and months –
The seasons and the year –
And then it dawned – that they had died,
Who still to us were dear.

How final is a death.  It brings
To close, a life on earth.
And each of us will die, who once
Awoke to life and birth.

In sleep, it seems we’ve ceased to live,
And yet, we are alive.
In death, it seems we merely sleep,
Yet naught can dead revive.

I came upon a village once,
Where everyone had died.
But when I went to tell my friends,
They thought that I had lied.

They would not come with me to see,
And so I went again.
And in that village square, I knelt
In silence and in pain.

They once were born as infants and
Their lives of mortals led.
And then, one day, it seemed they slept –
But truly, they were dead.

And some might say, “They’re still alive
But in another realm.”
And who, with heart, will say they’re wrong?
For death can overwhelm.
   
They once were here but now are gone,
Where none can see or hark.
And who is brave enough to try
To dare those realms of dark?

2014 October 11, Sat.
Brooklyn, New York