DESCRIPTION:
The Brotherhood of Bonesmen by Nigel Pennick, February 9, 2015
Bones laid upon the table tomb
Two skulls dug out their grave
Asked to tell which one of them
Was lord and which was slave

In death the powers of crown and class
Are levelled with the poor
No one can tell the dead apart
Once passed through death’s dark door

Rigging the strings on the Sexton’s Wheel
The contents of Azrael’s urn
Three straight bones on the churchyard path
Bones of woman, man and bairn

Goddard’s Drops and Swallow Water
The shoemakers’ bones of St Hugh
Bones for wise women and cunning men
Bonesmen know each and all of them

Playing on the legbone flute
Horse skull underneath the bony floor
The dead fifth at the edge of sight
Visions from burnt bone beer

Rigging the strings on the Sexton’s Wheel
The contents of Azrael’s urn
Three straight bones on the churchyard path
Bones of woman, man and bairn

Rigging the strings on the Sexton’s Wheel
The contents of Azrael’s urn
Three straight bones on the churchyard path
Bones of woman, man and bairn

© 2015 Nigel Pennick