Burial Ground

There are dark places drunk with grief where water

drizzles. There are wilted flowers and dried wreaths.

There is your grave hidden back there, behind

God’s back. There are clusters of Charles

buried here, neighbours in this family plot.

Two lone wooden stumps mark the grave

where you wait for that marble headstone

etched with your name. There is wild bush

and the broken fence where your nephew

crashed that rented car at your funeral,

when his vision blurred with tears. There are

the marks we leave and those that will be made.