I stand alone before the open grave<\/p>\n
Questions burgeoning–why should I grieve?<\/p>\n
Your empty shell has long let free your ghost<\/p>\n
Rejoin the molecules of that make the world<\/p>\n
Where did you go? And will you yet return?<\/p>\n
Have I a prayer of seeing you again?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I fling a fist of dirt below again<\/p>\n
Upon the box ensconced inside the grave<\/p>\n
But when I leave, I know I won’t return<\/p>\n
This field of stone is not a place to grieve<\/p>\n
My fate is to remain in this cold world<\/p>\n
Haunted by your ever-present ghost<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But honestly? I don’t believe in ghosts.<\/p>\n
I guess I should aver it once again<\/p>\n
“All that’s real and true is of this world,”<\/p>\n
I intone, my voice sober, firm, and grave.<\/p>\n
“If you feel loss, it’s for yourself you grieve.”<\/p>\n
Grief only takes, gives nothing in return.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shake it off and to your life return<\/p>\n
Go through the motions, corporeal ghost!<\/p>\n
No one cares to spectate while you grieve<\/p>\n
Or hear your wailing, see you cry again<\/p>\n
They wonder, is her depression now so grave<\/p>\n
That she cannot enjoy that of this world?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it’s overrated, isn’t it? This world?<\/p>\n
You work, you sleep, to work you must return<\/p>\n
Laboring from cradle until grave<\/p>\n
Reenact the scene, you vengeful ghost<\/p>\n
The human rituals, repeat, again<\/p>\n
What life is this, the loss of which you grieve?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But still it lingers, self-indulgent grief.<\/p>\n
The truth about this vale of tears, the world<\/p>\n
Is sin absolved, then acted out again.<\/p>\n
I venture forth with hope, only to return<\/p>\n
To haunt the wounds, invisible as ghosts.<\/p>\n
What cannot die can never have a grave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’m of this world but wish not to return.<\/p>\n
Forgive again when I can finally ghost.<\/p>\n
I’m tired of grief. My peace is in the grave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I stand alone before the open grave Questions burgeoning–why should I grieve? Your empty shell has long let free your ghost Rejoin the molecules of that make the world Where did you go? And will you yet return? Have I a prayer of seeing you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1645,756],"class_list":["post-19073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","tag-depressing","tag-sestina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19073"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26564,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19073\/revisions\/26564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}