It's just poetry, it won't bite

Images in the Ashes


09.25.19 Posted in today's words by

Jonathan Douglas Dowdle’s most recent poem to appear here was “We Are the Seekers” (July 2019).

Images in the Ashes
By Jonathan Douglas Dowdle

Once: a bird in flight,
Now: The fire swallows the song,
As images are carved at last,
That we knew all along.

No softening the wounds, this time,
Blow comes after heavy blow,
And we, the bruised, continue to march,
For this is all we know.

There is no art of excision,
The poverty at last has claimed me,
The barren heart of tongue, and thought,
The eyes that dare not see.
Let the empires crumble,
Like stones beneath my feet,
As the story is sealed at the spine,
And the final word is complete.

I will march beyond the marigolds,
I will march beyond the stone,
I will march against the shadow’s dance,
And I will march alone.

Once: a bird in flight,
Now fire has wounded the wing,
Still, I will whisper out the song,
Even if I can’t sing.



2 Responses to “Images in the Ashes”

  1. Sharon Poch says:

    And we, the bruised thank for such a powerful expression of our journey.

  2. I loved~~
    Once: a bird in flight,
    Now fire has wounded the wing,
    Still, I will whisper out the song,
    Even if I can’t sing.

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