Oft we returned to that white room
Fed on explanations and smiles
While �Shelley,� laughing all the while
Seemed to dispel the gath�ring gloom.
The keeper kept his position
The days were spent in quiet bliss,
Ev�ry one starting with a quiz.
All we had to do was listen.
Certain ones trying not to preach
Sapphire Bob and his �knowing gaze�
Sitting outside on sun�ier days
Leaf blowers obscuring all speech
A former pupil chewing straws�
Another then wonders what�s next�
A girl speaks out on �dirty sex��
The class explodes in loud applause
For costumed presentations done
For cookies and chamomile tea
Pow�r pointed images to see
The graveyard now a place for fun.
Count the beautiful lexis here
Carved in stone and gray moss-covered
�Who�dve known that we�d discovered
Evidence of a happier year!�
A voice starts up at this statement
The keeper shouts out as he stands
Shovel still in his dusty hands,
�You know, the past is not so dormant!
They were no hap�ier than us now,
They acted like repressed slaves,
And yet we ponder o�er their graves!
They�ve much to say, but what�s it mean?
Did they know something we forgot?
After all, they once worshipped God
But dreary salt is under trod,
When pepper is the spice besought!
Let us be careful what we say,
Confronted with this looking glass
Of headstones cold and growing grass
The blind years aren�t so far away!�
The pupils each pained in distress
Labor pangs swollen in each head
Unspoken but surely not dead
These words that we try to express!
One half in explosions of mirth
The other in silence complete:
A woman splayed on the concrete
In pain and about to give birth
We peered into the crystal ball
Perceived their fate may be our own.
Now that the child has lived and grown:
Behold, a mighty nation fall.
Our mother�s songs memorized thus
Studied out by her youngest child
(The one that was born free and wild):
They seemed to be a short preface.
Inscribed on her dark sepulcher
Wisdom like gongs in ancient fires;
Like ambient sounds of far-off lyres
Words that cause ev�ry heart to stir
Mouths gaped now with understanding
All the reading was but for this
As we exhale in gen�ral hiss
(Worn-out sparrows, at last, landing�)
Comprehend life in the womb
About to be born in us all�
We answered the half-whispered call
That arose from the bone-powd�rd tomb.