Mudlark No. 44 (2011)

The Dead

Assisting with our arrivals 
they are courteous 
in that clinical way.
No small talk
Here comes the next peak, they say,
Try to relax—
knowing that we won’t,
even though won’t in the end
will spare us nothing.
Still, they don’t chide,
remembering that we’ve had 
no practice,
that for each of us,
it is always
the first time. 

Claire Bateman | Mudlark No. 44 (2011)
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