Flowers and Men and Fate

          Flowers and Men and Fate

Palled eons hover in the space between

Each falling petal, each palled eon called

Eternity or death.  These, each one seen

As equal, spy themselves as self-same, sprawled

Like vileness, black.  Each falling petal floats

To vacuum.  Between the petals death

Spreads wide and wide in space like Viking boats

The warriors set on fire with shibboleth

Of pagan prayers to send off chieftain souls

Much farther in their trek across wide seas

That never will be measured since the holes

In time involved are deaf to deepest pleas.

  A petal falls.  A chieftain falls, and spans

    Abysmal scrub away throats’ avestans.

Phillip Whidden