Radio Ulster News

I was leaving no stone unturned in my granny’s bedroom,

in search of the savings the old cow had salted away

 

against the expense of her Co-op pauper’s funeral,

when the radio said that the body dragged from the dam

 

and decayed almost beyond identification

was that of my brother, unheard-from these past three years,

 

since his card had been marked and he’d had his marching orders

from my father-in-law, his wife, and the rest of the boys.