Finding a Broken Gingerbread Man, Speared With a Tree Branch

// Meg Eden

little boy, it’s time
to come out now. your body
was found in the ashes of the barn.
they did not lift you at first because they were
afraid of waking you up. you sleep
so peacefully. please —
I do not want to be the one to tell you this.
take off your cap, let me brush
your hair like woman’s gold,
sing to you a song you may remember. it is getting
so late, yes now-put your head
into the dirt, the straw through your eyes,
it will go much faster this way. but wait
until I leave. I cannot watch this.