The Grave's Embrace Poem by Barry Middleton

as I look back on poetry
much like time lapse photography
I find the metamorphosis
of themes and lessons I had missed

the windy words of youth betray
the mysteries hid by yesterday
when I did ponder time and death
with lovely passion in my breath

but as a lifetime nears the peak
'tis darker lines that I must speak
a butterfly with broken wing
reveals that life's a fragile thing

for leaf by leaf each one must fall
the trees are stripped for winter's pall
and dying roses in a vase
foretell the waiting grave's embrace