Tattered Shreds: A Requiem For A Lost Youth Poem by C Richard Miles

Tattered shreds, now fluttering faded
Desiccated seedheads rattle out,
Like the last peppercorn in the mill,
Dust-dry echoes of memorial.

Desiccated seedheads rattle out
Tocsin’s death-knell reminder,
Dust-dry echoes of memorial,
Where breath stood suspended.

Tocsin’s death-knell reminder,
Cellophane envelops the fallen blooms,
Where breath stood suspended
In its translucent, body-bag shroud.

Cellophane envelops the fallen bloom’s
Youth, all lifeforce energy spent
In its translucent, body-bag shroud,
Exposed dead twine of ripped wire.

Youth, all lifeforce energy spent,
Torn open, mimicking vandalised junction box
Exposed dead twine of ripped wire,
Uncommunicating, missed calls unanswered.

Torn open, mimicking vandalised junction box,
Bin-bags spill out as garbage trucks
Uncommunicating, missed calls unanswered,
Let guts surge out on the mundane street.

Bin-bags spill out as garbage trucks,
Choosing to ignore while they argued,
Let guts surge out on the mundane street,
Gore’s redness staining the pavement.

Choosing to ignore while they argued,
Passers-by took no notice of the spat
Gore’s redness staining the pavement,
As being ebbed away into silence.

Passers-by took no notice of the spat,
All withered away, like autumn leaves
As being ebbed away into silence,
Bare-bone skeletons, in final dance.

All withered away, like autumn leaves,
Like the last peppercorn in the mill,
Bare-bone skeletons, in final dance
Tattered shreds, now fluttering faded.