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Politics and Activism

Pulvis et Umbra Sumus

An existential poem.

Allison Meyette
Aug 29, 2016
Wheaton College
791
Pulvis et Umbra Sumus
Henry E Hooper

pulvis et umbra sumus


Lurking in the ashy midnight air,

dancing through the darkness: there,

black forms begin to warp and twist -

show us truths of what we've missed.


Clouds and furniture puff obedience;

sunlight is opaque, shining and deviant

as pages snap and feathers brush away:

coughing, sneezing, caught in the grey.


we are but dust and shadow


Human bodies tossing alone in the

atmosphere of blackness unknown,

believing in everlasting permanence:

untimely death a sad determinant.


Nothing here lasts forever and one

needs to know that life will be undone -

so complete all that you must,

we are all but shadows and dust.

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