– 5 –

Sleepers

In a distant but amicable imitation of lovers they sleep
Parallel as tracks and as likely to touch.

Over their heads
Litter bags flutter filmy white.

They pass by several cemeteries
Above clay steps an arch reads DAMIEN.

At the backs of lives are washing lines
Sheds of garden implements.

Sometimes mushrooms grow by the tracks
Once, a blackberry smears the window.

He wakes up one eye at a time
Lurches away down the thin aisle.

She reads the classifieds
Births. Deaths. Notices. Signs.

She looks out ahead
Her eyes racing the lines.