When the young die
The young deceased sit down on our settees,
alarmed, and thinking they should not be dead.
But elders expect eventual release;
they slowly, slowly, totter up to bed.
Old people die on gentle gradients,
and quieten like a plane moving away.
A natural cause will take them when they’re spent,
fading them gradually with the day.
Young people drop stone dead from cruel cliff tops,
their bodies too fresh yet to yield decay,
a rushing stream of riches forced to stop;
a big brass band forgetting how to play.
You sit upon their laps, the too-young dead,
whilst eating, watching telly, trying to cope.
You wear their knees to dust. And take one breath
of hope for each sharp gasp on which you choke.
alarmed, and thinking they should not be dead.
But elders expect eventual release;
they slowly, slowly, totter up to bed.
Old people die on gentle gradients,
and quieten like a plane moving away.
A natural cause will take them when they’re spent,
fading them gradually with the day.
Young people drop stone dead from cruel cliff tops,
their bodies too fresh yet to yield decay,
a rushing stream of riches forced to stop;
a big brass band forgetting how to play.
You sit upon their laps, the too-young dead,
whilst eating, watching telly, trying to cope.
You wear their knees to dust. And take one breath
of hope for each sharp gasp on which you choke.
Page(s) 62
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