What To Do Poem by Ellen Shaw

When all that is left behind is ashes
Powder fine
Fragile as cobwebs
Fragile as your broken mind
When the footsteps beside yours
Have washed away in the tide
Solid as a memory
That has changed with time
When you have grown tall
Taller than a tree
Barren sticks
Void of leaves
When rooms are empty, dark and cold
A playground for ghosts
Acting out their history
Stories untold
When singers are silenced
Writers blocked
Windows smashed
Doors all locked
When all that remains
Is a body bound in chains
Unshakable, unbreakable
Tethered to the ground
When the sun is shrouded
And stars are lost
Dry season
Turns the ground to dust
When flowers are not nurtured
Seeds are useless
Colours fade
Into a black and white photograph
When what is real is false
Souls are shattered
Hope disappears
Nothing matters
When all that is left behind is ashes
a wisp
A sigh
A broken mind