The Toast Poem by Michael Burch

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay) ,
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and gray,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak and scarred and lone,
for seas reflecting distant suns
and weeds that thrive where seeds were sown,
for waltzes ending in a hush
and rhymes that fade as pages close,
for flames' exhausted, graying ash,
and petals falling from the rose,
I raise my cup before I drink
in reverence to a love long dead,
and silently propose a toast—
to passages, to time that fled.

Originally published by Contemporary Rhyme. Keywords/Tags: toast, death, time, pain, passing, passages, dreams, clay, flesh, ash, sun, sunset, age, aging, grave, end, rhyme, sad, blues sonnet