When I die, dump my body in a river
I want my skeleton intact
And my fleshy body bloated
Like a cyst waiting to pop.
You know, all in all,
I love the dying
As much as the ride.
A personal, all–natural slip and slide.
I yearn to see my body free from burning
To keep my bones intact.
I can learn to free my soul in earnest
If you can keep this simple pact.
Dump my body in a river,
Let it bloat and sink and float,
But when you do,
Keep my skeleton intact.
I want to know
I want to know,
My femur will have a home in hip,
And I'll never have to wonder
If the ashes where my feet are will ever meet
Their ashy ankles at the bottom of the sea.
At the bottom of the sea,
Where I wait for future motion
In the stillness of the moment
While my ashes drift and wonder
What my bony body lacks.
Dump my body in a river,
I want to see my flesh all pallid
Like an ugly mannequin
When I look down from wherever,
When I look up from some nowhere,
When I see my body, bones intact.
Dump my body in a river,
And don't ever buy a coffin,
And don't bother with embalming,
You know that stuff's a scam.
Dump my body in a river,
Dump my body in a river,
And watch it float away if you feel so inclined.
I don't care if you observe
Or if you walk away,
Just make sure that when you do it
My bones make a silly little skeleton
That may someday dance
In the full moon of a mystic Friday
Or maybe Hallow's eve,
Or any day
With all a Sunday lacks.
Dump my body in a river,
And if I make it to the delta
I may just be okay with all
My body ever lacks
I used to say:
“Keep my ashes in a coffee can
Spread 'em in the sea not on the land”
But since those days I've learned a bit—
Ashes grow,
But bones are bones forever.