Ixora Press

This is the first poem in the section titled “Loss” in my poetry book Reflections on Love, Life & Loss.

The title itself indicates a sort of reminiscence of the past, but the poem takes on a darker tone. There is something unsettling about the way the poet views the past through the lens of the present, almost as if she anticipates something worse than what has happened before.

“Blood and sweat hath watered the ground

And tears did fall there too

Silent souls still wander around

In fear of what we will do”

This verse, the second one in the poem takes us back to our blood-stained past and the possibility of it happening all over again. Can you imagine, the silent souls of those who are lost forever in the past, those who became part of the landscape of this earth we know now in the present may yet be joined by even more silent souls?

“Golden legacies of yesterday

Lay smothered in cold ashes

The present world is in disarray

As the future secretly watches.

I’ll let you tell me what you think this means. Whose golden legacies are they and why are they smothered in ashes? When I wrote this, I meant for legacies to be ambiguous. They could be the ones who were sent into a war to fight to maintain someone else’s legacies, whatever they may have been.

“Golden legacies”, I will always hold to my belief that war is a money-making venture what with the building of war planes, tanks, machine guns etc. How to make the rich even richer? Pick a fight with one or more countries and then send the children of those most loyal to you to die.

I don’t blame the future for watching from its hiding place. If only they knew what was coming.

Reflections on Love, Life & Loss can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (online).

(Image generated by AI)