We Will Scatter Your Ashes on the Lake Today

We will scatter your ashes on the lake today,
When the sun shines full upon it;
Early,
Like you always rose early.
We will remember you,
And this remembrance
Will mark the beginning of our forgetting.

We will scatter your ashes with heavy hearts,
Because these ashes are you,
And we are at fault.
We will be silent,
At least we would be
If we could,
But we never can and that’s one of the reasons why ...

We will scatter your ashes in your favorite place,
Though these ashes are not you
And you will not see it.
If you were here,
You would only make sarcastic remarks,
As would be your right;
But you are not here,
Not now.

We will scatter your ashes in the midst of resentment,
All thinking the others more to blame,
Only agreed upon one thing:
That it wasn’t you.
We tried to love you,
But we didn’t know how. Old story.
Too late.

We will scatter your ashes with no sense of joy,
Though your life was so well-lived.
You were an example;
We are ashamed.
There is no redemption in tragedy:
Catharsis is not redemption.

We will scatter your ashes with barely a word,
For you have broken the bond that should have united us,
And by you have broken, I mean we have broken.
We would bow before you,
But there is no you,
And we would only be embarrassed in front of one another.

We will scatter your ashes sadly, shamefully,
Yet unrepentantly,
Because we do not learn from experience:
Not us!
But you know that already.
No, knew it.
You don’t even know that anymore.


This poem was a response to Visual Verse's monthly challenge to write a poem in one hour inspired by a picture provided.