Skeleton Quay - Source Poem For Goosebumps Contest
Foreword: Contains excepts from, and additions to, my own three part poem ‘Bone Idol’, which is way too long to submit here.
Skeleton Quay
He lingers on the quayside and heeds the phantom howls
Out on mist shrouded water his hero dog now prowls
While mortal men of flesh and blood exude a scent to track
His naked bones emit no tones to draw his seeker back
Two thousand miles of skimming clouds or bounding over sea
This canine’s epic trek has brought him to his hometown quay
His phantom nose is sniffing but he finds his master missing
Man and dog remain apart, together reminiscing...
When the sniper fired his rifle and his faithful canine fell
A second bullet found his heart and he went down as well
Might we stay together, somehow he deigned to try
His last exhale the whispered vow, Lord, we must not die
Army medics took him, in vain, his life to save
His hero German Shepherd in a stoney desert grave
And then his own cremation, yet he remained aware
Ethereal intervention withdrew his corpse from there
Something in his mind just knew his dog was somewhere yearning
Shame the intervention came when he was near done burning
He only gets to hear him when a crescent moon shines bright
Perhaps they do as ghost ships do just pass by in the night
Each one knows the other’s close, they’ll reunite in time
He’s of a mind to bide his time fighting low-life crime
And so...
He prowls the night in shadows twixt the bat the rat and cat
Keeps his hairless cranium hid beneath his tan rimmed hat
And lest he scares the homeless like he's been born out of hell
Behind dark shades his vacant sockets hide away as well
Whilst he has no need for food - he hasn't any guts
He passes time by nibbling packs of jelly beans or nuts
They bounce around his ribcage then trail along the ground
To feed Cedric his rat sidekick who follows him around
It takes a while but then a smile at four wet footprint marks
No phantom howl, a joyous wail and then some playful barks
Man and dog now reunited, distant bond now reignited
Cedric tried it, couldn’t fight it, three good friends now all delighted
And so they prowl the shadows where no lawful man shall dare
Only those of I'll intent shall stand or loiter there
But nothing here shall cause them fear nor get under their skin
A knife glints in the moonlight and they cannot help...
...but grin.
Copyright © Terry Flood | Year Posted 2018
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