"That Now The Dead Have Come To Die" by Kane Nayi - Contest Entry

That Now The Dead Have Come To Die

by Kane Nayi

That now the dead have come to die
I ask, was it all worthwhile?

those walks on loop
the melancholia obsession
the endless train of cigarettes, and the cheap bottles of rum
Oh, the rum!
so sweet, and splendid
my greatest friend
my savior of nights
I regret not one sip of your
flowing spring which
found me
while lost
somewhere in the desert

and to those streets I trekked every night
those fights won and lost
the loves, found and annihilated
that old church swing set
those sleepless Oklahoma nights
that Texas sunset on the man made lake
the last time seeing my mother
those long talks with the moon and stars
that vacation on South Padre island
the birds outside my bedroom windows
the songs, and the films, and the books, and the paintings
the streets we rode, like waves
in our concrete Midwest ocean
I raise a glass to you all

that now the dead have come to die
I turn away from the light

and let it burn forever.