Oracle of the Poppies
Fiona Kennedy

My halting footstep found the stony chamber
A breath poured salt and rose into my lungs
I reached to wake the earth, past root and amber–
I found a voice, and spoke in ancient tongues:
You asked the skies to tell you how it ends,
And Fate at once tied strings to all your days.
In vain, you caught at stars to make them bend,
But static stars know nothing of decay.
I’ll bury you, make blooms from borrowed bones,
When Love and Wisdom turn and leave you cold.
Recall in me the oracle of knowns,
Return to me what mortal hands can’t hold.

So memory makes eons out of hours.
My love, the earth remembers you in flowers.