Catafalques

Our undercroft had housed our dead

Unseen, in gloomy sepulture.

But pagan chieftains much prefer

Barrows, where height can show instead.

And the busier departments need

Those lowest levels for their work.

Glib passers-by avoid that murk,

And absent bosses don’t impede.

Ensconsed where corpses decomposed,

Those in cubicles will thrive, unvexed,

And never taken from their desks,

They’ll finish the great work imposed.

Interrers from a raucous age

Buried their kings and queens in mounds.

Since robbers filch, and greed abounds,

The wise entombed their heritage.

Sarcophaguses, then the norm,

Are too chilly for a comfy bed.

The dawn should kiss those lids of lead,

To heat what blankets cannot warm.

Rather than burying in hills,

Top those barrows with their occupants.

These somber monuments enhance

What would be dowdy domiciles.

Coffins as cenotaphs and plaques,

Allow the dead to bask in sun,

And feel what veneration’s done.

Hilltops make the best catafalques.