rag and bone

 

‘rag and bone,

rag and bone’

 

on the day he died

the sky was cloudy grey

heavy with grief and tears

 

the day we buried him

the rag and bone man came

 

‘rag and bone,

rag and bone’

echoing across the back yards

 

taking him away

in a long black car

 

we didn’t talk about it

our grief absorbed

like damp earth on a casket

 

‘rag and bone,

rag and bone’

time will heal your pain

 

and it did

for a while

 

until a young boys dreams

flourished beneath the compost

of imagination

 

‘rag and bone,

rag and bone’

the call of the old man

riding on a cart

pulled by grey horses

 

like clouds

 

drifting across the back yards

echoing down history

the trundle of wheels

 

‘rag and bone,

rag and bone’

 

bring out your dead

the phantom intones

and through the twitching curtains

comes the nightmare

all rag and bone