slipping from my fingers,
the fickle fish time,
sand running out of the hourglass.
tell me why nothing may last,
why the leaf reaching an emerald-green apex,
decays to brown.
and why the fly agaric
has grown through your body,
jewels in your funeral shroud.
two glossy berries have fallen into your eyes,
staring at me, at the wind blowing the soil onto you.
your prized bracelets and necklaces replaced by young creepers,
white flowers filling ripening buds.
and when your elderflower bones touch the light,
two-hundred-and-six pearls released from their oyster,
as the shining leaf turns to grey.



nothing gold can stay