sam bless him has died and left this home the woodchucks running wild the bushes overgrown slip unseen into the skein of trees slide through dusky grasses and scatter his ashes oh it is all over he is never coming back there will be no more roaming he was only here for fourteen years and now the branches scratch my face and i cannot hold back my tears long ago i did see him running in the snow he would come in from the cold and he would lie down by the stove pass along this loping road the needle grasp of briers on the slope he would never been to church so he does not have a soul he is not waiting at the place where all of us will go but the woodchucks would not run so wild the bushes would not be so overgrown if we were not alone bound unbound through the boundless air remaining wisps of hair barking out through everywhere the trees the grass the rain and sam in the air oh it is all over he would never come back there will be no more roaming he was in this world by my side he was curled but he came uncurled and this world holds him that much tighter that much tighter that much tighter that much tighter that much tighter tighter tighter tighter tighter tighter tighter tighter tighter oh