761. ST. ANSELM'S SEASIDE CEMETERY

ST. ANSELM'S

SEASIDE CEMETERY
(Portland, Maine)
Ah! The moon and the tomb, they both
have struck again! Beneath the pale, weak
moonlight nothing else comes through.
I am hearing the messages from afar!
Distant Heavens. Distant star.
-
The tempest-trees partake of what they will -
willow, hemlock, ash and oak - and the elm
trees, I note, are right now burrowing down.
-
None of these, I know, are the long-sought
woods of ancient sailing vessels. The
salt sea faces back, without a blink,
these acres of unfam'd dead.
-
They say the eyes are windows of the soul.
Here? Where? What is left but nothing
when the dead are all we have. The
eyes, for sure, are gone. And, too,
the soul has already fled.