Let the Maggots Feast

A Poem by Erin Kateri

mourning the loss of a brother

This dignified oak tree, standing, still,
we had nurtured it, you and I.
How I wish that you could see it now…
see its orange leaves fly.

I remember watching it grow strong.
You were its role model, don’t you know?,
It mimicked the way you would stand straight
and the way you would gracefully grow.

But tonight, although it stands upright,
its face now reflects my frown.
And the proud oak cries its orange tears.
They fall in a pile on the ground.

Unwilling to leave, I lay by you,
and rest my head on your stone.
Cursed be the day you abandoned me
and left me here all alone!

Therefore let the maggots feast on you.
Tonight they make Swiss cheese of your face.
And I’ll stay here ‘till they eat me too,
until Death rescue me from this place.