Granary Burying Ground by Michael Keshigian

We walked delicately through the gates

upon freshly fallen snow,

visitors to Boston

not about to awaken the dead,

footprints disclosing our humanity,

our imprints divulging wander,

the ghost of breaths

exposing the fog of life

which the frozen light of stars needled.

Gravestones numbed our fingers

as we traced the identities of those beneath

then cleared a place

for candles to perch in remembrance,

illuminating the history of it all,

famous revolutionaries,

their names shadowed,

flickering in the yellow burn of the wick.

We, the living, haunted this resting place

of the deceased, disturbing their slumber

with images of stories spun through centuries

that now marched through our heads,

wishing they might articulate

the inaccuracies, some things

we can only logically conclude.

Oak trees and pine encircled the history

where questions will forever hover

with silence interpreted as conclusive,

the moon smiling through frozen branches,

pale as a dead man’s face, scarred by the frost,

replete with the knowledge we seek.

 

Michael Keshigian’s thirteenth poetry collection, The Garden Of Summer was released April, 2019 by Flutter Press. He has been widely published in numerous national and international journals, recently including Red River Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Oyez Review, Bluepepper, Muddy River Review, Smoky Quartz and has appeared as feature writer in over twenty publications with 6 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations. (michaelkeshigian.com)