Next Page Ink

Lay me down beneath the marigolds, 

Whose seeds have just been planted. 

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I’ll take my soul—to ruffle past the starlit leaves,

That hang from the tips of the angel tree. 

 

 

The rest I’ll leave for the earth to breathe,

Flames of flowers from the marigold seeds. 

 

 

Watered with every breath I left, 

Every word I spoke until my death, 

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Till the petals read: “Here lies he, 

Who begins again between grasses 

Evergreen with all the things he had, 

And had to leave." 

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The fields will burn with the marigolds,

Whose seeds I one time planted. 

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They’ll blaze between the grasses green,

And leave their fiery orange

sheen.

To match the sunset in the sky— 

The earth ’neath which my body lies. 

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So may my long-forgotten grave, 

Take some part in a perfect day 

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In this garden that I grew for you,

From seeds I took to grow 

Anew, a poem that I read, 

And leave for you— 

The Marigold Seeds.