After Saint Stephen

stone settles into body with the sound you would expect
all dull all anti-climax
all real and unable to look away
crowd hiss
first blood
shallow
concave
and the thin crack
sweet lift away
noise like fire starter
all wrong and inevitable
top of the head floats away
all spirit leaks out
gets on shoes vacates room with
no need for housekeeping
splayed limbs on some kind of bed
stone settles and sticks where you would expect
watch from a distance
bones shake sympathetic
heart shakes in chest
stage instruction: his was an ecstatic death.