highway man

there was this homeless guy 
living on the side of the freeway 
he was there for months with his
tent fluttering against the inconsistent wind
one of the last times i saw him there 
there was a plastic skeleton 
maybe 10 inches tall hanging from 
a low branch of this frail thin tree
it shook me, this plastic thing hanging
like a long dead person it’ll decompose 
after a thousand of me make worm food 
and then i went to the freeway again 
and he, his tent, his bags and the 
little skeleton man were gone. 
to find a new home i hope
or hang from trees with rope