cemeteries are strange
graves in a line
neatly arranged
with slab designs
names, dates
hollow phrases
stones like weights
to freight the spaces

in other beliefs
they hang your bones
for light relief
in catacombs
tourists take snaps
of skeleton preachers
skulls in stacks
crosses of femurs

either way
life’s all you’ve got
one day here
the next day not
so dig me a bed
lay me down gently
a tree overhead
its roots to hold me