At Home Beyond the Gates

A Home Beyond the Gates

I enter the pearly, white gates
They make no creak or moan
I shut them behind me
And walk the grassy path

To my right, to my left
Both have perfectly straight lines
of modest monuments of marble and granite
On them are etched names of people

These people are displayed just how they died:
modestly, humbly, and imperceptibly
This isn't how they lived, surely
They certainly must have endured life's usual excitements

As I near the end of the path
I come to one farther away from the others
It's monumental in size and decor
And it holds my attention

It has its own gated entrance
and flower beds inside
The onyx marble reflects
the sunlight to my eye

I lay on my back
my head near the stone
The warm sun on m face
The cool grass on my neck

I take in my surroundings
Oak trees near
Pine trees there
And pure, unbroken silence

The only sounds of life
are the wind through the trees,
the elegiac song of the dove of mourning,
and the rhythmic beating of my heart

People don't understand why I
enjoy it right here
And sadly they never will
For to welcome death, you must first live

I sit and face the monument
I smile at the perfect etching:
"Live life brightly. Lie in death brighter"
Beneath is my name

People misunderstand
I do not wish for death
I merely do not fear it
It's a new quest -- a new world

I have this garden planned perfectly
Flowers shall bloom eternally
The grass will never wither
And the marble will never fade

Many wonder why I
spend my life caring for the place of death
But the amount of time a body lives
pales in comparison for how long it lays dead

I know my body will not last forever
And I don't wish it to
I want my bones to strengthen the trees
And my blood to color the flowers

This is my Eden,
this place beyond  the gate
It's where all men end
and others originate