I Die Poem by imani halley

I Die
I die
I am the Earth
Buried six feet below all sky
Food for the worm
Broken down to my elemental origin
Blended with the terafirm
It is said I am alive
Existing in their love and fragmented memories
Death drags them here as well, though they strive
I am gone
Destined to feed the Earth
The reason nature let me live on

My effect was acute
Constituted as a mere scratch
My cry hollow and mute
My role was dispensable
I served neither darkness nor light
My purpose was invisible
No tales feed my glory
No books know my name
A few short lines in an obituary sum up my legacy
I slid into my grave
As they muttered false somber words
Such as "compassionate" and "brave"

I lived for my own
Coming first before the others
My food, my air, my skin, and my bone
Surely I was loved
And surely I loved back
But what was the point, if they all fell from above
My joy was a shell
Empty of substance
It echoed when my heavy tears fell
I lived for the world, without any real care
Numb and unconscious to Life or its pain
Now it is lost, with nothing procured

I lie
Under a mound of fresh Earth
Thick enough to silence my cry
Oh, wrath!
It all was for nothing
But to subsist in unbridled sloth
To have it redone
To sing the Earth a whole nother song
All before Death's war was won
This guilt I never have known
Now I lie still in my grave
Cold and alone

These ideals never occurred
While my feet rested upon solid ground
And Death's cry was still and unheard
A lifetime of pain held off at bay
Busting through the dike
And vaulting my limp soul away
Food, air, skin, and bone,
Wasted!
All because I lived for my own
Oh to have it all over again!
I'd just as soon be destroyed
Than to die with this loss rather than win

I say this to you,
What could have been known?
What life did I skew
For such an impermanent home?
I am sped
Without a mark of my trace
No care left behind
Other than my personal race
Now I lie in the Earth
Cold and alone
But from this Fresh Grave
These Flowers have grown