the veiled lady/hailstones between my teeth

DEATH POEM

a man is put in a coffin and buried in a cemetery.

over time, his veins begin to be replaced with vines

entangled with roots and dirtied with soil

until he is nothing but a skeleton.

it is quite boring to be in a coffin for ten years.

so, he begins to practice, practice, practice for something big.

he trains until he can rattle his bones at will, and he knows someone

would understand the message he would send them.

he speaks to the man buried a few feet away from him.

"what are you in for?" he rattles.

"i was shot," the other dead man replies simply. "what about you?"

"i killed myself." he rattles back.

"tragic. you must spend quite some time pondering what could've been."

the other dead man rolls over in his coffin and sleeps.