Fragile Legacy Poem by Barry Middleton

We leave our immortality behind,
and mine is written in a book
the world may cast aside.

Someone may find it on a hidden shelf,
and dust it off and take it home
to delve where shadows hide.

I know that every man is bound and lost,
but poetry can lift the soul,
and mark the dark riptide.

But on the fretful road to find the soul,
we lost the path that valued art,
and poets were denied.

I see my ashes on the silver waters
where I reflect a falling star,
my omen and my guide.

And all around I see a moonless sky,
the poetry of Universe,
where poet gods abide.