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