dead poets make pretty flowers

By Asenath Jane R

Dead poets make pretty flowers
Wilting and withering through the hours

The prettiest was our Dead Poet, a wild flower,
with a little yellow for all the somber
and a little rouge for all the macabre

He was young at 16, a fervent teenager
made thin and reedy with a large brown coat and open collar
tall boots that helped him stomp over his grave violently
as he cussed at travelers who no longer heard him
or even knew of him

He was 20 with a thick pipe puffing smoke
still pacing the rich dirt over his grave
still unheard
still tormented

Young to old, his faithful was a thin, rickety flute
that sang a tune, persistent in its nature to leave a hole in you

Maybe that exact hole was in us
The lock matched the key, we connected
And perched we sat next to the grave on plastic chairs
drinking to our young Dead Poet
reimagining his tunes with such mimicry of pathetic
and wholesome
that we reveled unto dusk
We followed the nearby stream he seemed to have followed
looking for revenge
searching for his darling
seeking from the moon
And we found a little life in existing, something he had never found

There she sat, pretty in sparkling silver-
a locket with a face reflecting the full, yellow moon
twisting and turning under the glass-like stream of water
The talisman was brought to hang over his grave
a mark of adoration bestowed upon his restless soul
A gift
As the evening mist bathed us anew
Singing his words
Breaking through paper
Finding a weary soul
They ignited from a feathery flow of ink
to syllables that flowed directly from the streams of his desolate heart

But dead poets are content in their demise
So we simply refuse to bury them

Dead poets make pretty flowers
We carry forth their flags, not to bury them
Pretty flowers are always in pain
They are meant to be plucked and picked apart for our vices
The pain makes their tortured souls
They cried while alive, their cries echo even now
Those souls, will they be saved
Dead poets were damned to save our souls in pain


5 comments

  • Great poetry!

    Amos
  • Great stuff!! Keep writing more!!

    Husen
  • Just amazing ✨✨

    Dhanyaa
  • Loved reading this!

    Ahalya
  • Very well written 👏

    Trinita

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