This Bone That I Found

First published February 12, 2013 by Poetry Life and Times - ArtVilla

THIS BONE THAT I FOUND

by Torre A. DeVito

Walking in the woods I found a hollow bone,

Whose flesh had been the meal of worms.

It was hollow and smooth, bleached by the sun:

And insects had cleaned the marrow.

Ah, that in life I am like this bone,

that all my gifts be used up,

offered upon a platter that is licked-clean,

sopped-up, slurped-out, and savored.

Oh, that in death my body is used up

so completely that there is nothing left

and at the resurrection it is renewed:

smooth and clean and white as this bone;

this bone that I found, while walking 

in the wood, this hollow bone,

stripped by worms – hollow, smooth,

and bleached by the sun.