Sewing Machine
Sewing machine, long idle, gathers dust
Its graceful frame a filigree of rust
Needle, naked pointing to its resting place
A symbol of the toll all life will take
Sunshine streams surreal through silent space
Past the broken stone that was a window case
Beams of sunlight scatter wildly in their blame
Illuminating memories of pain
Love's last hallowed hiding place reviled
Beneath the jagged glass where once they keeled
To ask a witless god for sacred grace
And pray for revocation from this place
The battles ended long ago with no peace won
Lifeless soldiers buried neatly in the sun
Stars and crosses left to mark the empty space
Where lust consumed the last of love's embrace
Daylight sinks below the hollow gloom
Of lonesome darkness strewn across this room
The war years seemed like only yesterday
When history played out its terse cliché
Spirits stalk the dead to join in sin
'Till candles sputter, spent - now dark within
The stars give up a silent last cerise
And darkness fills the emptiness with peace
written 2018.10.22
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