Underneath the rope the wrists
twisted, pale white off set by
purple gouges; hold on tight.
She was up against a metal
beam when she died. She
was riding a white horse
with her hair flowing
across her body when she went.
*
Her last words were of water;
of flooding, of the turning of
the tides. In her last words she
spoke of a mermaid; a girl
from long ago, a mother,
a ghost in the bedroom
waits. I know what
heaven's name is.
I know that it is male.
