Jackknife man

by Paul - Libra

British Museum exhibit:
male skeleton
Bronze Age
more than four thousand years old

Jaws gaping open
as if the afterlife were a joke
or an eternal bore

Hands and feet,
fingers and toes,
archipelagos
of digits for the earth
to explore

The ribcage
miscellaneous arcs,
rims of mixed circles 
loose on the grave floor

and the limbs 
porous drumsticks,
lean spindles,
roads the flesh has been down
to love, suffer,
dream and grow old

before coming back
to the foetal position,
knees drawn up
to be born again in death.

A jackknife,
snapping shut
on its own edge.

Come closer children.
Forget the birds and bees,
flowerlust and thrusting seeds.
These bones are the true spring.
The ultimate facts of life
are wrapped within them.
Birth sign: Libra
Date created: 2000-03-02 18:16:28
Last updated: 2021-03-03 14:41:51
Poem ID: 54902

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