Uncovering the Old Grave Site by John Grey

Smothered by weeds, a rough cut of stone,

chiseled with graffiti, in this case, 

the name, Elijah Forrester, the years he lived,

and the epithet, “Soul In Heaven.”

Chiseled to annoy death no doubt

so why is it life that sprouts so irreverently,

obscures the words, sends even the facts of him

to a kind of grave?

I pull away the most clinging 

though their roots burrow deep, 

reveal his details for the light.

This is all selfish on my part.

I want someone to part the weeds, 

expose the life, when I’m gone.

It won’t be me. 

Somebody called Elijah Forrester 

makes that plain.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in the Homestead Review, Poetry East and Columbia Review with work upcoming in Harpur Palate, the Hawaii Review and Visions International.