Cemetery

 

Cemetery

The scent of fresh cut grass enhances this orchard of granite.

Meticulous hands cultivate its emerald-green lawn.

Beneath the grassy cover, a city of the mourned remains frozen in a cacophony of reminisced love and grief, by those beholding each monument.

I am among them; a bereaved onlooker, besieged by sorrow – and grasping an acceptance of inevitability.

Blossoms enliven this melancholic setting; ephemeral gifts signifying hopefulness and adoration. They too, wilt and perish like their intended recipients.

Crystal-azure heavens, dotted with wispy-cotton puffs, suspended above, as if dabbed there by an artist’s inspired stroke, guide each soul to an inviting light.

I shield my eyes, head craned and eyes squinting, unable to peer directly into the luminous gateway.

My soul will enter there soon; and my corpse shall die infinitely in the harsh earth for which lush, clipped grass shall provide no relief.

-7/3/12 Michael J. Kannengieser

Author Michael J. Kannengieser’s books are available on Amazon

Michael J. Kannengieser is a retired New York City police officer who lives on Long Island, in New York with his wife and two children. Michael worked as the Managing editor for fiction at The View from Here Magazine; a U.K. based literary publication. Michael's first two novels, The Daddy Rock, and Burning Blue, were published by Decent Hill Publishers. Dreaming Big Publications released his novel, The Heart of Velletri, in 2019. Michael's novel, The Art of God, was published in July, 2023. His latest book is a sci-fi novel The Last Two People.