Based on pg 44 from “Vorkosigan’s Game” – Lois McMaster Bujold (Sci-fi)
Culvert
Yanked out by the heavy legs
with dread of not knowing
what the other end would look like
Half a man?
No head?
Nothing so dramatic-
soggy parka and big prune face
eyes still wide, searching mine-
was this a suicide?
Was he trying to hide?
He was a private from supply
a man child in over his rank
playing in murky head water
just clogging up the pipes-
contents of pockets unspectacular.
It was the culvert that revealed
the reason for his end.
The siren of his mother’s
pastries dropped into the opening,
singing their song of home.