When my spirit withers, I fall gladly to my knees
So that I may revel in life’s fine sublimities
Verdant trees stretch towards Heaven, ablaze with majesty
Breaching the welkin’s fortress as clouds weep tragically

When my spirit withers, I do silently decree
That no delight of mine shall fade to obscurity
With passion I still hearken to the songbirds’ symphony
Sinking all the while into sheer tranquillity

And even as I lie upon a funeral pyre
Stripped of earthly pleasures and trivial desires
I walk without fear, along a vast eternity
Towards the astral kingdom where bliss flows endlessly
So come now, Death; I will gladly heed your call
For when my spirit withers, I am wounded not at all

My dreams are

unguarded fortresses

An army of demons

chants its songs

behind my eyelids

Ethereal bodies kept forever chained to

markers of death. Flowers, notes, stuffed

toys, flags, lay broken and weather-beaten

where life was lost.

Begone all roadside memorials.

Unchain the souls of loved ones.

Send them into the light of a new existence.

Run, ye souls! Run from the mournful!

Dance into the glow of heaven, with angel

wings to light your way. Minuet through

seas of soft-cotton clouds with nary a

backwards glance. Sing the songs of ancient

mariners as you float within the calm. You

are on a boundless journey through unborn

stars and drifting worlds.

Rejoice in your untethered freedom!

POET BIO SKETCH: Leni I. Friedland is an award winning poet.  Her book, “Off Key,” gives the reader a close-up of her inner soul.  She is a leader of a Taproot writing group in Setauket, N.Y. and has done public readings for Performance Poets and the National League of American Pen Women, of which she is a member.