Dust To Dust

These names, written in blue
and black and red
on mouldy parchment,
must have meant
something to somebody once.

Someone must have
thought them important
enough to list here
in near alphabetical order.
And have had a reason to do so.

How long ago
this list was written
and who these people are
I don’t know. Nor how
long it’s been in my loft.

But here it is; I hold it up
(not literally aloft) for all to see
as I marvel at all the futile stuff
we get up to that seems vital
at the time but turns out not to be.

Dust To Dust