NATURAL HISTORY

The skeletons of childhood dreams and nightmares

erected by steel poles and airplane cable.

Because the flesh has been long gone,

a soft footstep echoes as loud as the cough of God.

No matter where you stand,

the eye sockets follow your every move.

The bony pits where nostrils once were

still smell you.

It is humbling to know

you have no seniority among the towering dead-

that you exist because they do not.