Ode to Death

if i am doomed to die, to fade away,

then let the Summer dig for me a grave

so deep beneath her depths of supple clay

to reach the slate my roots in dying crave,

so seasons pass and cast

my bone to hidden stone

through layers moistened brown,

the loam of ages past

from gilded breezes blown

that ancient storms brought down.

in time, my stones will seep through Autumn seams,

the teeth of grinding Earth that gnash the dead,

returning flesh to banks of violent streams

where fallen leaves revive in bloody red

remaining veins encased

in amber pebble tombs,

each waiting turns to die,

depart this world erased

and face the end that looms

in dust of covered sky.

so keep these shards on sheltered shores and guard

the song of raving larks and restless gaze;

let nothing chance upon my resting yard

as sorrow sheds its form, at last, decays;

i have no edge to skip

but only weight to sink,

so rising tides return

in floods the currents whip

to Winter’s very brink,

my stirring final churn.

and when my ripples flatten back to glass

remember once again the scent of Spring,

perfumed with wasted youth and sassafras,

regret dissolved to tempest underwing,

ascending cloudless heights

through heaven’s darkest spheres,

diluting down to air,

returning now as lights,

this starry nest appears

to mark my vast despair.

• Original: March 2025

• Revised: August 2025

Submission History

Date	Publication	Status
March 27, 2025	Think Journal	Rejected
April 27, 2025	Frontier Poetry	Pending
May 10, 2025	North Appalachia Review	Pending
August 29, 2025	The Aftershock Review	Pending
August 29, 2025	Marrow Magazine	Pending
August 29, 2025	Raleigh Review	Pending
August 29, 2025	Arcturus	Pending
August 29, 2025	AC DC: Journal for the Bent	Rejected
August 29, 2025	Banyan Review Poetry Contest	Pending
August 29, 2025	Dogwood Poetry Contest	Pending
August 29, 2025	Hare’s Paw Literary Journal	Rejected
August 29, 2025	Thirteen Bridges Review	Pending
August 29, 2025	Marcus Morton Memorial Poetry Contest	Pending
September 5, 2025	New Verse Review	Pending
September 5, 2025	Amethyst Review	Rejected
September 9, 2025	Garfield Lake Review	Pending