Ketchikan Graveyard - 1969

seagulls playing in
elusive warmth of evening
air, placid greenness of
manicured cemetery lawns begin
ascending the mountainside
choked by a tangle of
spruce and cedar smelling
of alaskan rain

in memory of beloved:
an empty loneliness
filled with
memories of a strong man
who grew roses

a rock becomes the past
strong and certain
the present crumbles
as newly tilled soil under
uncertain feet
ascending into the future

Tim King
Long Prairie, MN