Ashes and dust must
Envy the speckled sand.
Broken rocks
Brown beer bottle glass ground
Into fine pieces
It snatches my feet captive
Yet I do not recoil.
I join crabs and creatures crawling
Just beneath the shallow surface.
Ashes and dust must
Be swept up, eradicated.
Yesterday’s cells
Have expired their welcome,
And betrayed my fate.
Meanwhile sand stuffs the corner
Of the shuddered shower.
It snoozes in shoes and floorboards
(Though I often have no say in the matter).
A creature void of breath must
Accept its fate to ashes and dust.
Heroic men fall unable
To return final kisses
To squeeze back the hands
Of those seated beside them.
Each will fade
To dirty ashes
To awful dust.
But before the final breath is drawn
Some guileful bag of bones
May perceive the loophole
And as their parting wish humbly request
That they, at once becoming ashes and dust
Be cast among the sand.