La Alpujarra 13-15

[poliphilo]

13. JASPER

 

They dug for  jasper up on the hill-

And still might it anyone cared.

 

A cloudy stone, its colour varies

From dried blood to ocean grey.

 

The miner’s house has lost a wall.

Also its roof. The door is bolted.

 

14. GOLD

 

I think that gold is an ugly metal,

Like hard cheese with a deep shine.

I prefer the warmth of copper, the breezy

Shiver of silver. But what makes gold

The thing above all that turns  men evil

(Columbus building  the Indies into

An early Dachau, or Cortes knocking

The Incas over ) is metaphysical.

Gold seduces us into believing

That when we grasp it we’re grasping time

Because it survives us without developing

Even so much as a bloom on its skin.

 

15. CEMETERY

 

Dig a grave through rock?

I think not.

 

Hence this wall of graves

Like lockers.

The breeze comes riffling up the slope

Searching for coins and cartridge cases,

Condoms, buttons and cigarette stubs.

 

The hawthorns shiver like tambourines.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Spanish cemeteries. Walls and walls of niches all white-washing and some with photos of the dearly departed and flowers, always flowers. They're always some distance from the villages since nobody wants to live near one and the road that leads to them is flanked by tall cypress trees. The larger towns and cities have engulfed the camposantos with outlying industrial areas but there are hardly ever dwellings for the living in the vicinity.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember the image I wrote this for. Did my sister have a picture of a cemetery or have I conjured this from somewhere else. I just don't know.