Sonnet VII: Habeas Corpus;

You Shall Have the Corpse

©2012, Olan L. Smith

T'was not so long ago in days of yore

   Attended we our noble departed

To assure their soul's passage―heaven's door,

   But now cadavers lay empty hearted

Put stored away [professional's decor

   Of bloody sheets] our blackened sins robust

So, now we yearn for more appalling gore;

   Cadavers ... habeas corporal lust?

Retreat, in treachery and fear their sight

   Abolish death as we are solely plague,

And who is not ashamed of their affright

   This day?  Travails into the dank so vague,

Oh, how we fear our demise upon stage,

    Undo our hearts release us from this cage.