That Which Remains

And it's like sitting down in the middle of a play

Or witnessing an argument just as indignation and brute hurt

Are beginning to fade, and habit and pride hold sway.

Flaky bones tell nothing of the smile

Or the power they hardly knew

To quicken a lover's pulse,

Or how they cried less for themselves

Than for the children in sudden stark view

Never knowing just how deeply they were loved.

Notice...

...all that suffering reduced to damp air -

humus turned over carefully;

the fluttering of police tape and the tent

bringing human life to death:

busy discovery frozen in forensics

...the ordinariness of the scene

the happy dog sniffed out,

soon to tell desperate souls

frantic for news of life, minds

choked with memories

...the toxic disappointment -

profound beyond measure -

imagination supplanting tragedy

...how very old bones excite the spirit,

long distances soften the blow,

allowing fictions

...Yorick's skull. For Hamlet, lament;

for us, more colour