Refusal of the Four Elements to Accept Our Dead
One day the earth suddenly refused
To accept any more of our dead
Undertakers attacked the ground with jackhammers
But even if they managed to dig a grave
The earth coughed the coffin back up
On the coast they tried sea burials
But the sea also refused them
No weight could make the coffins sink
They tried chaining them down
To rings screwed into the rocky seabed
But the links groaned and broke
And the coffins floated back up
To drift aimlessly like flotillas
Whose crews were butchered by pirates
It was thought Well of course cremation
But the bodies wouldn’t burn
Though it would be more accurate to say that
Fire didn’t want them either
The flames just licked at them a little
Like a dog too sick to eat
Nor did the bodies rot
As if the air had lost interest
In doing commerce with the flesh
This was a blessing
They didn’t even need embalming
But it confirmed that all four elements
Had decided to no longer accept our dead
There was no choice but to set coffins on biers
Not only in cemeteries but in parks
Walking through the woods with friends
One might stumble upon one standing there
Hushing all talk and laughter
Though more and more families decided
They wanted to keep their dead nearer
And so set the biers up in their back yards
Between the barbecue grill
And the badminton net
And because the bodies were incorruptible
Some decided against coffins
And instead placed them in glass sarcophagi
Where they lay regally
Their lifelike hands clasped
Like those waxen saints in cathedrals
Who smile softly in snow drifts of prayer petitions
And children who might never have really believed
The great-grandparents they were shown
In albums spread across their grandparents’ laps
Had actually ever existed
Approached them slowly now
With the high soundless steps of deer
As if they were only sleeping
As if they might suddenly
Open their eyes
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A whole new dimension to July 4th get togethers!