When The Dead Drive By

When the dead drive by
Clerks outside office blocks
Hold cigarettes behind their backs

Policemen stiffen
Children stare apprehensively
At the blind windows

Traffic slows for a moment

The lollipop lady finds herself
Considering a dog she lost
To a disease of the digestive system

How he would run wild along
The full stretch of the pebble beach
Before he succumbed

Judy thinks of Uncle Frank
Mrs Cole remembers the scent
Of her last loves’ neck

Newly weds blanch
The elderly rejoice it isn’t them
Adolescents are drawn to its peculiarity

The priest considers the possibility
Of nothingness
The doctor whispers a covert prayer

The undertaker likes to see people
Changed in the presence of the dead
It makes his job sufferable