Graveyard

Nothing has moved in this town.
Nothing at all. Only the soundless dark
And the wonder of night that came like the wind
Unseen have wandered down these final streets.
Only the silent have come upon this mark.

There is no town so quiet on any earth,
Nor any house so dark upon the mind.
Only the night is here, and the dead
Under the hard blind eyes of hill and tree.
Here lives sleep. Here the dead are free.

— James Still
From his book "From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems".

Photo by Dan Hardison
St. John's Episcopal Church - Maury County Tennessee

Also available:
Read or print PDF