We That Go Afterwards Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

We
We that go afterwards
If we go
To the land where my mother
Face upwards
In a bier unmoving lies
Of liquid perfume-mist
Yes
There lies she and still
And mute

We
We the torch-bearers of an
Immortality;
Put forth a different path
Yet
The heart yearns to follow
The same path
As you my mother followed in your time.

For your warrior-song
Rang unto the last breath
And
The will to live
Was yours
And with it too
The Will for Immortality.

You
Saw hazy and distant
That light where breath
Stops not
And Immortality beacon is
To all:

Alas! You saw
But did not reach.
My mother, my mother.

We
We here chained unto the earth
We
In our chains
We suffer
We toil
We sweat:
And yet we breathe
In queue of one
Way, your way
And in hope and
Prospect
Of another way
Of Immortality.

We sing not
Now
We versify not
Now
We in the haze
Grope our way
Just that
Just that
Now.

Let me
My mother any way
Visit your grave
And lie
On the damp earth
Below the which
Your flesh by now
Melted has:
And now
Your proud warrior face
Is a skeleton face
Yet
Still a warrior face.


The earth will tremble
Tremors slow
But sure.

The night will find
Glow-worms around
Light-islands midst the dark.

The high trees will neigh
As the winds neigh
All night.

The dawn will walk
Up the steep cemetery road
With moist eyes.

The birds will find
It
Uneasy to sing
And chirp their lays.

The sun will arise
Slow.

Slow
Will the night-frozen earth
Stir.

Let me
My mother any way
Visit your grave
And lie
On the damp earth
Below the which
Your flesh by now
Melted has:
And now
Your proud warrior face
Is a skeleton face
Yet
Still a warrior face.