It was near the bridge where you light a match
……………at midnight and let it fall,
…………………………and you’ll hear the drowned girl weeping,
…………………………one says. It was by that hill on Egypt Road
……………where a ghost truck will try to run
…………………………your car into the ditch, says the other.
……………He wrote me a poem, says one. He wrote plays, says
…………………………the other. Closed casket,
because of the claw marks on his cheeks.
No casket, just the urn, of whatever
……………was left. He saw it once and got away,
…………………………but he went back.
…………………………He’d only heard the rumors
……………and wanted to go when no one else did.
…………………………I don’t know what he thought he would do.
Extraordinary, he kept murmuring,
……………like some detective in a book.
…………………………I wonder if he wanted to tame it, make it
……………love him. But the worst part, they agree,
is not that it’s still out there—
……………the worst was everyone just walking around
……………the calling hours, saying hello
…………………………and offering tissues, sniffling How sad,
how sad, and they never spoke of the mystery.