No last chance

One last long breath
To conquer dancing flame
No ember to flicker hope

Ashen earth chills
Covering depths to mound
Oracle dust of silence

Arid remarks
Echo on deaf ears
Reconciled to nothingness

White lily blooms
Whithered and crumbling
Preclude peace pipes from passing.

Regrets are left
Flourishing from the wake

Buzzards circle to pick flesh

Author's Note

Take this as you find it. The lines are there for you to interpret to your truths.

Reviews

[Paul Bell]

Never sure if there's such a thing as a good funeral, usually two camps turn up and the funeral is forgotten in the wake. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of giving out invites to their funeral, or would the uninvited turn up anyway just to gloat.

[JayceeC]

My guess is probably the latter. , Resort that or they're there just to be seen so others don't talk about them.

[Einstein Noodle]

"No Last Chance" ... indeed .. every moment slipping by is gone forever .. no recalling even those mundane daily passings ... a dark commentary says i .. as the buzzards circle to pick our flesh ... V1 makes me think of a meditation on a flame ... the trick being to see it still ... without wick, smoke nor flickering ..in V1 your speaker seems to have accomplished it .. but reading on there are other avenues you pursue .. a gloomy destiny lacking hope ... sadness my prevailing emotion in reading .. ;)
E.

[JayceeC]

Ah you always have been good at reading my intentions. I wrote this after attending a funeral. It's actually one of the first things I've written in a very long time. But maybe this will start it up again.

[Chris Shaw]

The end of the world is nigh. The human race will destroy itself, it's on the cards but nature will prevail. I am reminded of old railway track left for years. Nature will reclaim it. I have seen trees growing between the rails, and thriving.

Chris

[JayceeC]

That is a beautiful but solitary image. Nature always reclaims it's space eventually in one way or another.

[Chris Shaw]

Reading your poem a day later and the imagery gifts me something else entirely. Thank you for that.

Chris

[JayceeC]

I think that's one of the perks with some minimalistic poetry, the imagery and meaning can speak to the reader in that moment. Thank you for taking the time to come back to it for another read

[John the Baptist]

Well, "Happy Days Are Here Again" probably would not have been the best title for this one. The writing is restrained and spare, the topic is death, probably a death that erases any good that might have preceded it. The last line says it all.

[JayceeC]

My writing is either minimalistic or narrative, I don't seem to have a happy medium. This was inspired by a funeral.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

"I feel the end is coming soon" "Don't go around tonight, well it's bound to take your life, there's a bad moon on the rise"
We are burning ourselves out and off this earth....I think the day might be coming sooner than later when the buzzards circle the last of the human race.
and we go back to day 2 of creation...

just lakes, vegetation....purity of nature...no humans.
I often take that long last breath, just in case.
j.

[JayceeC]

Those long breaths can be tricky-- too many and you hyperventilate. I must admit, your poems probably influenced some of the imagery here. I may have gone a bit overboard.
Blushing at the CCR reference they are a staple in our playlists.