Yesterday we went on a hike that led us to Alsace and three old castles: Loewenbourg, Wegelnbourg, and Hohenbourg – mostly reduced to ruins. The sight’s a good reminder: All that is now will eventually turn to dust. So here’s my entry to Colleen’s Poetry Challenge. Synonym words were CHANGE and DEFY.

picture: Castle Hohenbourg  – September 1st, 2018

~To Dust~

The hands of time turn
mercilessly—eat the world
alive, bit by bit.
Stone breaks to dust, flesh withers.
Nothing withstands time’s power.

All shifts, all crumbles—
memories that remain fade
into nothingness.

Another picture of one of the ruin’s doors/arches – it’s the entrance that led to a spiral staircase used to get to the upper part of the castle. Only a few steps are left, you can see the remains peeking out from behind the left door frame.
The castle was established in the 13th century and destroyed and rebuilt several times as ownership and allegiances shifted. This arch’s time stamp dates back to 1578. That’s 400 years between the year the stone mason chiseled those numbers into that slab of stone and my own arrival here on earth – 440 between that day and the day this picture was taken.