---

they remain where they fell

amidst the vernal blossoming

and the baked summers ground

covered in the cold blanket of winter

and the dead autumnal leaves

See them gathered round

eternally smiling

laughing at the fate of men

they who with deliberate gesture

mock the living,

theirs is a sight

not of vision

but one of knowing

and understanding

freed of the ties that bind

and released of the notion to survive

they lay staring coldly through

with deepening eyes

hallow and black

view and bare witness

mortal man

thy immortality

which remains fetid and buried in the earth

they remain where they fell

amidst the vernal blossoming

and the baked summers ground

covered in the cold blanket of winter

and the dead autumnal leaves

scattered amongst the nedled floor

in stark contrast they lay

present but hidden

companions to those

that crawl between and beneath

awash by dust and rain