The Death’s Head turned into an angel
over time, its crossbones into wings—
side-by-side, you see it with this girl.
“Here lyes buried the body of Rachel”
(her headstone used for a crayon rubbing),
the Death’s Head turned into an angel.
Her parents hoped death was a brief spell,
like sleep, to be followed by awakening—
side-by-side, you see it with this girl.
She died at twelve—not nearby Samuel
who experienced King Philip’s War’s suffering:
his Death’s Head later become an angel.
I’m a lapsed-Catholic, but believe in symbols.
My lifetime? Two kids, five wars (still counting)—
side-by-side, you see it with this girl.
So this is my Gray’s “Elegy,” this villanelle
(different churchyard, while vacationing)—
the Death’s Head turned into an angel.
Side-by-side, you see it with this girl.