Shallow Grave Poem by William Graham

Amidst the times that should be full of mirth,
When sparkling rays of sun sweeten the earth,
Evil intrudes to blacken the bright sky.
A child dies and morality is defied.
Left in the care of an uncle thought tame,
An innocent girl saw her youthful flame
Rudely snuffed out by the nicotine brown
Fingers of a man known in the small town
As strange but harmless. He firmly denied
Knowledge of the crime. To questions he replied:
“Look at her boyfriend.” No charges were filed.
A neighbor’s dog then dug up clothes defiled
With brown and red stains behind the uncle’s shed.
In a fallow field, the girl was found dead.
His relatives proclaimed his innocence,
But evidence against him was immense.
After the tears and the flowers had dried,
People in town took sides. There was a divide
Between those willing to grant forgiveness
And those who hurled vile venom and curses.
Life advanced. Spring came and then a heat wave.
Iron rain flooded the fields and her grave.