poetic interlude #2 - cremation

what was once living

is now smoke in the wind

glittering gold to shadow

the fire envelopes all

weeds, piled high,

once spreading like wildfire,

are uprooted, chlorophyll carcasses

to be broken down, to die anew,

they grow hotter, fever spreading

until the ground is clear

food, left over from dinner,

the chicken fat and the burnt bits

at the bottom of the pan,

everything I could not eat

all returning to the earth

to be harvested

plastic, bag and bottle,

it shrinks and curls into itself

the quickest burn you’ll ever see

the chemicals twisting into the air

a ghost, a sinister smog

that fills the lungs

the fire burns forever

I can’t smother it

and when the headache returns

from those pieces of my life

that I inhaled, all I can do

is stand back and stare

at the destruction

when I catch fire,

when I am burned out,

could you spread me gently

around the lilac in the garden?

or let me wash away with the tide?

I think that would be nice.