The Way to Leave This Mortal Coil
Goodbye toenails my old friends
I won’t be trimming you again.
Sorry toes for all the stubs and cracks
we really should have had each others’ backs;
metatarsals lead to ankles often turned
and so we learned
how Achilles went under.
Goodbye calves and scarfed shin bone
and housemaid’s knees that creak and groan
through the femurs of the thighs laid down
to the hip joints on the pelvic crown
where the family jewels are wired to the heart and brain
but truth remains
that even these go under.
The groin, the gut, the heart and lungs
give issue through the mouth and tongue
in the middle of a face’s charms
with limbs around them like a coat of arms
giving birth to songs that no one else will hear
they won’t be here.
Goodbye you earthly wonder.
Peter Stewart Richards
