Thursday, 8 December 2011

Dead Reckoning




Living near a graveyard

Sounded a good idea:

Not far to walk

If you need fresh air.



Stones don’t depress me;

It’s people that do.

There are far too many

And they look like you.



With the dead,

You know where you are:

They understand

What silence means;



Yet don’t complain

If you hold wild parties,

Or scream in the rain.



The odd ghost you meet

On those cemetery strolls

Where life appears abstract

Is strangely polite.

Even the headless ones

Raise their hats.



Spooks can be obliging

With directions

(Where am I buried?);

And endlessly patient,



Knowing (unlike us)

That time leads nowhere,

And worrying’s no use.



Their jokes aren’t as funny,

But that's no excuse.


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