A Chemical Reaction

I watched in awe, savouring every detail: the fluttering fingers, the almost imperceptible bronze metallic cloudiness that appeared on the skin, as if, before my very eyes, it were being breathed upon by death. 

    And then the utter stillness.

– from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: a Flavia de Luce mystery, by Alan Bradley

The slow discolouration of his skin;

its cloudiness; the metallic cast.

The abrupt silence of the breath 

drawing in – out – in – then nothing.

(After the fluttering fingers had stopped).

These are her delights,

the keenly dispassionate observations

of the fervent scientist.

She thinks herself blessed 

to come so close as this to the marks of death.

It is not a personal interest.

The dead man is a stranger

who wandered into her garden ... died there.... 

She simply likes to investigate 

the effects of specific poisons.

Linked to Inside the Ink at 'imaginary garden with real toads' – where we are invited to take a quote from the last book we read and play with it in three stanzas. (I have also written a review of this book: here.)