Symbolism

I realized some years ago
that I didn’t need to stand
over the burial ground of
my father, to be close to him

but that he existed in corridors

of thought, and anywhere, be it
earth or concrete, pulpit or leaf
I could be enveloped by his spirit

a spirit kept alive by human feeling

And so, markers upon the earth
or urns sitting quietly upon their mantles
ash in the wind, dissolved by water, they are

merely (but importantly) symbols

calming

our fear that we may forget

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