REPORTS

The dead sent me a delegation last night

The men were in elaborate formal clothes

Tail coats, top hats; ready, if needs be,

To discuss the surrender of Japan.

The women wore long dresses and broad hats

Prepared for dowager walk-ons in early

Edith Wharton novels. Their leader asked me

Why do you fear us? We wish the living well;

Do you not get our messages? Put on a sweater;

Water the cactus; avoid peacock feathers

Which bring no luck with them. Never give a knife

As a gift unless you wish the friendship

To be cut off. Your cats rise when we enter;

Your dog backs stiff-legged into a corner

But you try to ignore us, reading your book

When we bring instructions -- urgent instructions! –

On the only proper way to fold laundry

Or clues to the hidden names of God.

The abyss has not eyes to see; it borrows mine,

I brace myself, ready to be seen through.

Then it returns them and I discover

It ignored me, distracted by a squirrel.