Alone I will be

Of my country and of my family

I have little to say.

Or is it, that I have

Far too much to say,

So that I am better off

Not starting?

My country anyway,

Is a long way away.

The red dirt I long for

Is only a dream now,

So what can I say?

My family too is wasting away.

My father is gone now,

My mother is far away in the red dirt,

Her love as always, abounds.

My brother - love but apathy,

My sister, my womb mate,

Only antipathy.

My son, my miracle,

I only had him for a few days.

You see, he was never

Mine to keep.

Only borrowed.

So now I can only weep,

For all that I have lost.

It seems, you see,

That I was meant to die alone.

That when I am done,

When the time has come,

Alone I will be, going down.

__________________

This poem was written as part of the 2022 Literary Taxidermy Competition

It has the opening and closing lines from “Ms. Found in a Bottle” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe