Ashes

The pyre burns devoid of sentiment
The flames silently consume flesh and bone
With incessant grief the living lament
With many an agonized sigh and groan

Flames perform what funeral rites they can
So ends a life beautiful and profound
Hours ago there was a living man
Now lie smoldering ashes on the ground

Like a candle's fitful vulnerable glow
I perceive the journey of life to be
With all its eddying waves of joy and woe
A tiny ripple in the cosmic sea

May ripples join and grow for evermore
Into a wave that beats on heaven's shore

Reviews

[An owl on the moon]

Was drawn to the title... it suggests such moments of endings.. or beginnings.. Here you bring us to the end of a life, the sorrow of flesh consumed in flames, and the birth of a life of joy on heaven's shore. Beautiful and profound.