in memoriam

alone amidst the barren heath
the bleak and bitter moorland
a quiet church a lonely grave
silent and still

somewhere, somewhere out there
in quiet village quaint and sweet
in candlelight remembrance
they weep and pray and weep again

and with the owl cry
and gust of wind
a flutter flurry of dirt and leaf
brings sombre silence alive

this frost freeze night of the dead
weight heavy on the cold stone
names and faces forgotten
carved in marble and granite

and a whisper in the dark
rushes through the empty
and always extinguished
fading slowly into the air

and moon mourns a lost memorial
nocturnal eternal illumination
bows head in sorrow and weeps
and the rain falls in soft footsteps
the ghost of the past