Song of the Dead - May 31 2021

 

Song of the Dead

May 31 2021

 

As dusk descends

and light recedes

and the working day winds down,

the cool air is settling

like a still heavy shroud.

 

But traffic just gets louder,

as people head home

and sirens wail

and free-range children play,

gleefully oblivious

to anything but the now.

 

A bird outside my window

incessantly peeps and preens,

either competing for a nesting place

or singing for a mate.

 

While in this quiet room

secluded from the world

I think of all the noise,

the constant din

rising up to the heavens

from everywhere on earth.

 

Never a second

without this caterwaul.

Songs of praise

and shouts of rage

and the crazed rants of prophets,

celebrations 

and lamentations

and the everyday bustle of life.

Marriage vows

and fights between husband and wife,

opposing sides

demonizing The Other

across imagined divides.

Funeral processions

and earnest professions of love,

the endless succession

of births and deaths

always happening all at once.

Words of rejection and care,

rites of passage

and graduating classes

and marchers massing in squares,

all the heart-rending cries of despair.

 

A cacophony

so unrelenting

it must be deafening the gods.

So much joy and suffering

such unbearable pain.

 

Yet here I sit

my mind adrift

with all the time in the world,

as if out of the ether

a poem will appear

if I'm only receptive enough.

The laptop fan turns on

with its loud even humming,

and from another room

the dryer's soothing rumble.

 

Even in the utter silence

of a sound-proofed chamber

there's the steady thump of your heart

beating in your chest,

the rush of blood in your ears

as they desperately strain to hear.

Because as long as there is life

there will be sound.

 

And even after.

 

The sigh of a dying breath

you must bend close to hear,

the last will and testament

notarized and read.

 

The mumbled prayers

and mourners beating their breasts,

the wild ululations

and cries of the bereft.

The flowery speeches

and heartfelt expressions of grief,

the fond remembrance

and sobs of the bereaved.

 

The regrets and confessions

and words of repentance

that should never be left unsaid.

 

And the song of the dead

all the time

everywhere on earth.