The Christian Cemetery

I stepped through a gate in Penang
and entered a world of departed souls.

The softest carpet of green underfoot,
the darkest forlorn branches overhead,
my wandering revealed a landscape
of most stunning neglect.

Moss and decay rule there
in fantastic supple glory;
a possessive layer
of time forgotten.

Populated with mottled stone--
shrines, containers, remembrances
leaning, broken, stoic
weathering the years.

Within those walls
hushed peace prevails,
and all those who reside there
crumble faintly into dust.