Grave Offering

Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

He breaks the burst of blossoms off the tree,

The spray of life in blooms, and hauls it to

The back part of the car.  Cemetery

Rows wait. He has to ask directions through

Them.  Then he finds the grave.  His father made

His living from the bees that buzzed around

These bursts of cream and nectar as they swayed

In Florida.  Palm glory on the ground

And tomb’s stone top is what was dreamed, now placed

Above the man’s remains.  He will not know,

Of course.  An empty fulsome gesture graced

His tomb that afternoon in sunlit glow.

..The son steps back.  He does not bow his head

….Or chest.  He turns and leaves the blossomed dead.