Death comes in threes
she says solemnly as if somehow
mere utterance of these words
will cause the Sword of Damocles
to hang teetering, teetering over the head
of some soon-to-be-dead unfortunate.
We do Last Offices;
lay him on the purest whitest sheet.
First stage (Clinical),
turn him and he groans
as last air expels from lungs
and watch horrified
as blood spills in rivers through his lips.
Can you now understand
my pain?
his dead body asks.
We lay him prostrate
as if in reverence to his God
and cleanse all that is corporeal,
gently pull his legs apart
and place padded pants.
Oh the indignity of
death
his dead body oozes.
Second Stage (Aesthetics),
he now supine, gazes
with unseeing eyes
as we again wash away his life,
trim brows and beard,
anoint him with essential oils,
dress him in his Sunday best.
I am at rest now his dead body whispers,
I am ready and we usher in his family,
leave them to their grieving.
My best friend wants me to lay her out I say
as we both drained,
clutch at warming coffee cups.
Y’know she says,
on my way into work today
there were magpies, four strutting confident.
Four for death.
Do you think…?
Just as I mean to tell her she is stupid
I see crow and catch my breath
as he tap tap taps upon the window.
Caw, caw, caw(pse) he advises
as he views me with his beady eyes,
and one not prone to superstition,
nevertheless, a chill shivers down my spine.
Anna :o]
An oldie shared with the good folk at dVerse OLN, hosted by the lovely Sanaa. Cheers Sanaa!
Also shared at PSU's Poetry Pantry hosted by the lovely Rosemary. Cheers Rosemary!
Image: Courtesy of Flickr "Crows" by In Memoriam: Mr. Ducke is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
25 comments:
This.. in every sense of the word.. is Poetry! Such excellent flow, rhythm, and tone. You describe the significance of birds and their association so beautifully. I had to pause in the middle of the poem as I was overcome by emotion. Thank you so much for sharing.
Cheers Anna!💝💝
Anna, I feel like this poem is the follow-up to the one I did recently about the death of the undertaker's daughter. Such a difficult job to do. If you deal with death all day as a business, a little superstition is bound to sneak in from time to time. Yikes! That tapping bird is truly unnerving!
Beautifully written and entirely spine-chilling. I like the direct way you deal with the physicality of death here. A memorable poem!
Ah! This is a good one. Death is an ugly business and we stay clear of it as much as we can, leaving it to 'professionals'. The birds don't care though who lays out the corpse, or what the corpse would have to say about it. Do they portend anything? I doubt it, but...you never know.
An outstanding poem sure to linger in the mind of the reader. The birds are perfect additions to the clinical portrayal. Absolutely brilliant!
A wonderful poem, I love the mix of mundane and supernatural and the "caw caw caw(pse)" well done! / peace, Jason
Apologies for reading and commenting late, but after the live OLN, I was so tired, and we had the electrician in yesterday to sort out the heating – there is still none in the study or dining room! Your perspective on death is down to earth but also dark, Anna, going places others would not go, and reminds me a little of the television series ‘Six Feet Under’, one of my favourite programmes of all time, especially when the dead body asks, ‘Can you now understand my pain?’ I remember an ex-student of mine telling us she wanted to be an undertaker and the shock in other teachers’ faces when I said it was an admirable, caring profession. I love the ending with the crow.
You have such a talented way of conjuring up the scene. I can imagine this is happening all over the country right now. In fact all over the world.
Don't know how/why i failed to comment (ie rave positively) on this fine work earlier. sorry. Awesome work indeed. My Pantry offering's death-related, too, this cold morning. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the greeting, lovely Anna!
A fascinating piece indeed, with all its layers. It rings utterly true, and I love it.
This is immense ~~ in every conceivable way. Brava.
Whoaw. It's an hour to midnight in my part of the world, and I am not sure how not to dream of this. Beautiful. Morbid. Brilliant.
The matter-of-factness of tone while presenting such vivid and intimate details makes this a striking piece. I like how it feels like both a story and a window into deeper speculation about death.
Wow. Powerful. I remember when we took the life support of my brother it felt like taking Jesus down from the cross. I love hearing the words of the body in this poem.
How vividly you describe the cleansing of a dead body after death, and how chillingly you introduce the caw of the raven! There is more to life than we suppose, more to death than meets the eye. Hidden things matter.
What brilliant poetry. There is no time for reading sadness into this piece. Just awe of the craft.
Luv the word play "(caw)pse
Happy Sunday. Thanks for dropping by my blog today
Much💖love
Superstition can be very silly. Until it happens to us in ways that turns silly into totally creepy.
Also, your poem made me want to go back to read Gabriel García Márquez's "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World".
Oh Anna — that hits with impact. Certainly more to fate than meets the eye. Well written!
Anna, This is just so beautifully written--the flow is wonderful and the story is chilling--
Impressive piece - had me thinking deeply.
i like the details in the poem about preparing the corpse. i remembered some contractors i worked with described how they once worked on the dead GIs from the Vietnam war, and i marveled at their nerve.
the poem is dark, but a very good read. awesome work!
Wow--this is a wonderful poem! The dispassionate tone of laying out the body contrasts with the crow sightings. I can imagine one would wonder at omens.
I cycled back to this piece - I really dig the imagery...that sword of Damocles is concerning.
Maybe you shivered, but so did I.
A poem for our times with death increased manifold and pain stalking the land.
I do agree this is a great poem. The inevitability of death should make us all aware of living our lives to the full as we have lots of sleep to look forward to.
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