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Creating “Tomb”

While working a crossword puzzle, I came across the word “lambent.”  Thinking it a pretty cool word, I decided writing a poem using that word would be a fun challenge.  Remembering the catacombs of Italy, where the candles flickered, the weaving began.  What I ended up producing was a poem about tombs described in a particular hierarchy.  The end of the poem closes the circle.

Tomb

Indian empress

In majestic palace.

Pharaoh,

Colossal pyramids and valley of kings.

Chinese emperor 

Under protection of enormous, imperial army.

Abbeys and churches,

Splendid, kingly.

Czech ossuary,

Decorative bones create glorious ambiance.

Immense Irish mounds,

Green and grand.

Parisian and Italian catacombs,

Lambent flames of candles illuminating.

Monuments to presidents and monarchs

Visited by heads of state.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Represents otherwise forgotten victims of wars past and present.

City cemeteries,

Vaults and mausoleums dot the landscape.

Family graveyards,

Tombstones detail ancestral history.

Solitary, unmarked graves

On purpose or not.

Mass graves,

One of the spoils of war.

A small, dark grotto,

Once covered with a rolling rock,

Now empty.

Its former resident

Watches over them all

From his vantage point,

Watches over the living

And the still entombed.

Afterthoughts for “Tomb”

“Death is not easily escaped, try it who will; but every living soul among the children of men dwelling upon the earth goeth of necessity unto his destined place, where the body, fast in its narrow bed, sleepeth after feast.” 

― Unknown Christian, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation

“When Zhuangzi was about to die, his disciples expressed a desire to give him a sumptuous burial. Zhuangzi said, "I will have heaven and earth for my coffin and coffin shell, the sun and moon for my pair of jade discs, the stars and constellations for my pearls and beads, and the ten thousand things for my parting gifts. The furnishings for my funeral are already prepared - what is there to add?”

― Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

“The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay - ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. 

You could be dead for a long time” 

― Bob Dylan


My Drawing For Tomb: