The cemetery is decaying

like a corpse.

The whole time I am gone

 

I grew up friends with the caretakers,

their kids and their dogs. 

We played twilight games there,

hiding from the sun during the day

slipping into caverns

of daring imagination.

 

My sister is planted there,

my grandparents, uncles, and friends. 

 

Walking the stones,

I know many of the names.

I have grown up with these stones.

Hard shadows.

 

As a boy I was familiar with

which mausoleums

weren't locked.

 

Now, they all are.