A human skeleton stares 

out of a second-storey window 

 

near the Bridge of Sighs 

in Oxford, listens  

 

to the rhythmic thump 

of a distant building site 

 

and dwells on what he maybe 

misheard in transit to this place. 

 

‘When alighting, please  

mind the eternal step’ 

 

or he heard it right, and  

the metronomic thud is now  

 

a soundtrack for his final  

resting space, staring towards  

 

the meadows and tourist  

cascades who wonder  

 

if he’s been placed there  

to wait for the next comet trace.