Ambulances

    Loud noons of cities giving back

    Noen of the glances they absorb.

    Light glossy¹ grey arms on a plaque²

    They come to rest at any kerb：

    All streets in time are visited.

    Then children strewn on steps or road

    Or women coming coming from the shops

    Past smells of different dinners see

    A wild #CCCCFF face that overtops

    Red stretcher-blankets momently

    As it is carried in and stowed

    And sense the solving emptiness

    That lies just under all we do

    And for a second get it whole

    So permanent and blank and true.

    The fastened doors recede³. Poor soul

    They whisper at their own distress⁴.

    For borne away in deadened air

    May go the sudden shut of loss

    Round something nearly at an end

    And what cohered⁵ in it across

    The years the unique random⁶ blend

    Of families and fashions there

    At last begin to loosen. Far

    From the exchange of love to lie

    Unreachable inside a room

    The trafiic parts to let go by

    Brings closer what is left to come

    And dulls to distance all we are.