A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

To Lucius Shepard(1943-2014)

If there is music

to be heard after the heart

beats no more and

no blood circulates in

our veins, when our

bones or ash rest

on the palm of the earth,

if there is music

in the shadows past life,

if there are those shadows

or blinding light, if

if if... Then you have heard

what the cosmos sings

to its children ripped

from flesh, wrapped

in its fabric of void and particles.

If there is music,

if there is silence,

if there is thought,

if there is flickering...

If, if, if... you have heard,

you have heard it,

beyond the veil

in the cooling universe

you've come part

of it's song of life

and death -

the dirge before oblivion

embraces the fading

web of matter.

10.01.2019