Death shall not remain

when hollow bones are stripped to white

and luscious life drained to  naught

the lovers torn apart

the mother empty

the children gone

yet death does not remain

the rotting corpse

and empty grave

an echo of a beating heart

when the rolling mistress

covers life

and drowns all sparks

death does not remain

when roaring lord

comes conquering

and the living turn to ash

the sun and moon

ever watch

as death does not remain

bard, warrior, father, priest

all greet the end somehow

no single thing

tree or bird, can forever remain

eternity

immortality

the end for all must come

yet death does not remain

only fleeting

as a shy young kiss

or the first stirrings of spring's breath

does death come

softly knocking

or barging, raging

but never long

never overdrawn

death does come and go

swift as if on guided wings

those that die

not long remain

carried in that spindly grasp

death does not long remain

bravery tossed to sea

timidity left wondering in ice

all that die

do not linger

but in death they do stay

even as it passes by

swift, as the bird flies