Jake's Flea Market

serfs   peasants tell each other death happens
the moment a body becomes
a straw house shucked
from the life that had lived
inside it as a hermit

the child marcellus heard
at the death that happens in winter the last
breath will be seen to rise
as a puffed smoke from a chimney mouth   
as the the ascetic soul leaves the house never to return

the night previous bernardo too had met
the hermit in the guise of the dead  
king hamlet made of starlight 
in that hour the royal
recluse wandered the night of the rest of time   
til his destiny would be accomplished
his fate achieved
til he'd be completed

that second night they met   
that desolate dane again they were
not surprised   no more amazed nor afraid 
than we'll be when we see
the descent of the lonely christ    
down the horizon of the morning
in a chariot of cloud pulled
by a cascade of cloud horses