Dirge

dear customer Im oh so glad
to show you all the best I have
in my so well appointed store

unless you are, the very poor
I wonder what it is you'll steal
I watch where there is 

no appeal sentence and try you at my ease
don't brush your coat against those please
you scarecrow scaring off the crowds

you shouldnt be on streets allowed

or in the public's right of way
I wish you'd leave the earth today
why dont you

oh just go away
some angel cried
from some bright realm

checking the lists and very well
I do believe while sorting bins
next week and packs of needles and pins

the rarest items for display
this shopkeeper will pass away
and leave his raggedy customer rich

who's still alive though in a ditch.
who has the blue Carolina skies
to watch him with a mild surmise

in his anguished enterprise.

mary angela douglas 15 december 2019