When my time comes around/lay me gently in the cold dark earth/ no grave can hold my body down/ I’ll crawl home to earth” – Hozier – Work Song
Lower the cardboard coffin
decorated with signatures
and memories of me
beside Scots pine and marker
engraved with my namecover me with earth
decorated with signatures
and memories of me
beside Scots pine and marker
engraved with my namecover me with earth
leave me to rot
let the soup of my decay
dribble through tree roots
that wrap round my bones
suck nourishment
draw it up through the trunk
spread along branches
reach the sway of needles
with views of the hills
feel me rise again
Poem by Kriss Nichol
Kriss Nichol has an MA in Creative Writing and her poetry and short stories have been published in various anthologies and small press magazines and has published 2 novels and 4 poetry pamphlets. Originally from the North East of England she now lives in rural Scotland where she finds inspiration and peace