Tell me. What did you see?
I saw the summer pond eye-lashed with its
willows, the swallows that dipped and broke
the calm of the blind eye's sleep. I saw
three boys. They did not hear me call. They approached
the pond's shadowed side, the dark border with
the cedar swamp. They were not listening.
Not listening. They vanished Swallowed up. Later
I saw them come out,
pale-faced, with blackened hands and arms, the stench
of cedar bog rot, and a large animal's black-stained
bones. I warned them. I warned them.