Twigbones

Brambles coiled and knotted
carpets threadbare rucked
and dangerous on paths
between smooth limbless trees,
tall, rhythmically spaced
and bathed in greenish light -

Until the eye is drawn
towards a skeletal
construction stripped of flesh,
of walls my mind provides
for it. Rough limbs embrace
a scene, arch over it,

both shield and cradle it
(in gesture only now),
direct my eyes and feet
towards it, and by those
same gestures, point my eyes
towards the floor. Dust lies

like snow and in the dust
are laid to rest remains.
Twigbones, my name for them.
What tragedy was here?
They look like bones - reason
has them twigs and branches

of the guardian trees.
They lie remembering
the form they had when sealed
in flesh, set one to each
as they were then, outlines
of a Dream Time's creatures.