An Elegy Poem by Anisa Tara

Do you remember
The breeze that swept through?
It tingled the little hairs
On the back of my neck

Life felt
Like a gift in that moment
As we walked down
The stony gravel
Swept by the breeze
And by the gravity
Of a slight incline

Do you remember
The stench that greeted us?
The animals were near
Those animals are gone now
They've gone to where you are
Free of all their earthly toil
No longer bound
By human hands
No longer bound
By the laws of the land
They didn't have the chance
To screw things up

Do you remember
The way time froze for us?
Whether it was
Trudging down a slight incline
Or fighting the icy breeze
Or holding back vomit
From the animal stench

Such horrid things
For one person to feel
But time was silent then
There was no marking in the sand
No thunderbolt in the sky
No landslide hurtling down
From the majestic mountain
That never peeked
From behind a curtain of clouds
Maybe I should have listened
To her imperceptible droning

Time said
'Have your slice
Of all that is perfect and good
Before Death dips his little hands
And takes away all
That I have given you today'

So we ate it up
I know I did
I took in the stench
I braved the breeze
I let myself go
I kept swallowing
After it was all gone

Skyward my head was tilted
When you told me in no words at all
That this was love
Untainted by flesh or lust
Or the norms of men
This was love that we shared
I brought my head down
And looked at you
Time turned around and walked home
And through the door Death came

Skyward my head was tilted
When I saw the clouds converge
And knew that life
As I had known it
Safe in the palm of your hands
Built on all that you were
Secure in everything we had
Quietly reached its untimely end