Dust to Dust,

by J. W. Cassandra

My poem, entitled "Dust to Dust," is a haunting and, at the same time, impulsive meditation on mortality and divine justice. The poem explores the confrontation between a 'contemned nobody' and an anonymous power, employing archaic, biblical cadences. These cadences can be seen in the last two verses, closing the stanzas. While in the first two stanzas the tense is present, the first half of the repetitive lines of the last two stanzas becomes the past tense: this moment carries finality. From his own fate, the lyrical self reaches the hostile power, and from there to the eternal. The poem is a final reckoning, where every curse finds its way back to its origin, and the lyrical self sets divine justice against the oppressive power as a certainty.

 While the cycle "Mystery of Moonbeam Path" offers a fleeting glimpse into the magical realm covered with a silver veil, "Dust to Dust" appears as its antithesis. Although the present poem is not part of the cycle "Mystery of Moonbeam Path", it does contain the possibility of entering the magical realm if we read the poem "Dust to Dust" after the entire cycle.

I, the contemned nobody
Dare to raise my head
from the dust.
Dust speaks to dust,
Dust returns to dust –

My word is faint, pants forth,
Yet it falls back onto you
as a doom.
Dust speaks to dust,
Dust returns to dust –

Thy answer but is a serpent's tongue,
Yet its venom shall not sting me:
Into thyself thou bitest.
Dust spoke to dust,
Dust returns to dust –

All is one as is the Eternal One.
Thou hast trodden for now all thy
circles of curse.
Dust spoke to dust,
Dust returns to dust –

Written: 16 / 02. 2026, by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 24 / 02. 2026, by J. W. Cassandra

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