My Contribution To This Earth

And my body will fall like a brick to this earth
stale and cold, lying peacefully on the ground of my own
Gethsemane:
This Garden of pain.

Lead tears may travel the long path down my cheeks,
but they cannot tickle a dead man.

And maybe a lone traveler, one hundred years hence
may stumble over this patch of grass
so bright and green, tall with sharp blades;
maybe to sit here for rest. If this be so, may their joy be great,
for this patch of grass just may be the most beautiful
ever known.

And below in the moist soil, my sacrifice to life,
which is so ironically, death.
My contribution to this earth.

In this place lodged between heaven and hell
where I have dwelled for such a short time.
This same place that has given me nothing,
save a broken heart and a tear stained face,

where I once prayed to my God:
“May I never forget the pain this world gave me,
so that I may never return.”

1992