Finding Lucas

Brother, set the kids down.
There's a skeleton in this undergrowth
among the daisies.
Listen close, you can hear the jangle as he pushes them up,
clattering like the hard pasta necklace you made for Mum.

Went to Church, got myself clean.
Bowed my head and spoke my fears
- the Devil's ears pricked up.

I found a bone that was once a man,
and I could imagine the colour in his cheeks
and the laugh he had.

I found a skeleton in a fedora
and ushered the kids away.
The Florida swamp is no place for them.

Mother, set the plants down
among the apples in the orchard.
We're making cider in the soil.
Listen close and you'll hear him swallow.
Being dead is thirsty work.

I went to the local pool, got myself clean
washed off the smell of fruit in the sticky heat,
the smell of Lucas.

I found a bone that was once a man,
and I could well imagine the limp he had.
I found a rope and a petrol can
I could well imagine the way that Lucas had passed.
Selfishly.
And solely to become our skeleton in the grass.