And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion
the dead shall sleep and not rise
white tombstones shall fade away
in the darkness of the night
and we shall be no more, prisoners of light.

And death shall have no dominion
she will not come back in haunted dreams
throwing tantrums and awakened rage
lips won't allude to empty desires
bodies shall not be slave to lost kinds
earthly fires will not be rekindled again.

And death shall have no dominion,
we shall remain obscure in the sands of lost time
indwelling portraits shall remain hanging
on freshly painted walls of houses
built over the memory of your grave.

And death shall have no dominion,
Your creaked body shall not be savory
Mystifying consciousness and past tense may find us
But shall not under the commandment of my will
Children will be hidden in the corners of those walls,
doormats and attics invisible to outsiders.

And death shall have no dominion,
no woman's face shall ever resemble yours
no lies shall ever be believed as truth
no cherry trees shall grow where we first made love
no shards shall again rebuild pictures
no memories shall ever dare remain.


© Nothing Personal. March 22, 2011.

Author's Note

Title and the starting line from Dylan Thomas's "And Death shall have no dominion"

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very powerful poem. Each set of lines create a new vision. Death is still the great mystery. The questions won't be answered till we walk into death arms and hope there is a better place.
"the dead shall sleep and not rise
white tombstones shall fade away
in the darkness of the night
and we shall be no more, prisoners of light."
A excellent poem. Thank you. You made me think again.
Coyote

[Phantom Heart]

Strong poem. The first stanza stood out to me, caught my attention. It's deep and dark and well written. Thank you for sharing.

[Catonia06]

Woooow. I like this!

[jessicamarie19]

This is the type of piece I long to write. Powerful, personal and poetic... the three magic P's all in one. I usually only manage one at a time.

I might just be your new biggest fan! :)

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

A tribute to one of the greatest poems ever written, this was Dylan Thomas at his best. Brilliant writing.

[Art Sun]

nice work my friend,,,haven't been here in awhile and I see you have not skipped a beat, death seems to be one of those (our) topics where we can accept its certainty...and in the end who knows, we maybe will be in another life or just dust in the wind (Kansas) and then again maybe up in Heaven if we could only know for sure huh...well one thing is for certain we will meet death one day. Nice to read another great piece of poetry...

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

Very good write, Nothin Personal! I love the strongness you put into this piece.

[emmajoy]

Whilst this seems to be generalising death as the finish of all finishes, there's abject something about one person, isn't there .. 'no woman's face shall ever resemble yours ~ no lies shall ever be believed as truth ' - so I wonder if your superbly written words are, an attempt to convince yourself of loss. Whatever, however, the writing is beautiful, worthy of thinking and thinking about.

[Jeff]

A very haunting piece. Great job on this dark and emotional poem.

[SpokenWord]

In this I see death as being absolute, or lacking of all things and consisting of nothing maybe the ultimate peace. I think it is a powerful right that dispells all notions of an after life either in spirit or on earth it seems. Good write.

[Poeticadia]

A poem with a strong voice... you have started with Dylan Thomas's poem and crafted this to make it your very own poem... your own personal message.