We came across some stuff

at the edge of the campus

that included a catalogue of teeth,

most of a leg wearing most of a stocking,

and something like a kind of smear or stain

The technical term for this is Human Remains

We sent for an ambulance at once,

which arrived swiftly

and the very personable yet professional paramedics

did their best to console us and calm us down,

though they had no small amount

of trouble securing the smear-stain-tooth-leg-stocking person

to the gurney for safe transport

We found out later that

the name of the smear was Angelica Bedelamante

and she had been a Trappistine

who had gone missing several days before

At the press conference,

a number of questions were asked

that varied in length and quality

One of the best of these was

What about the rest of us, should we be concerned?

This was met by a few moments of silence,

and then the answer No

I don’t think so, we’ve nowhere near so far to fall as she did,

and besides none of us here are wearing stockings

which I thought was really a pretty good answer

(though I couldn’t see who had given it)

A service was held a few days later,

which we attended since

we were already so tangled up in the matter

that we felt it would be strange not to

Besides the abbess and a few of the sisters,

and one niece who had been sort of awkwardly contacted

at her home in Hillsboro only a few days before

by forces unknown

and who looked considerably more confused than grief-stricken,

we were the only guests,

which is pretty sad since we had never met the woman

and had only known her as a smear

They dripped her Human Remains

into a hole in the abbey’s backyard

using one of those honey-spoon-wand things,

which we were told was “very traditional”

but I have my doubts, I have my doubts about that