Falling Awake

It was darktime on a friday
and the ambulances which came
might have been black

the neon lights from the stripjoints
reflect in the puddles
like oil

They mix with the blood

A strange stillness
defines the violence
people stop to look
nothing brings a crowd
like death

He lies crumpled
strangly deformed
nothing relaxes a body
like death

Was I actually watching
at that precise moment
when his body gave up?
could I have seen his soul leave
if I had just watched more closely?

This,
more than any church
makes me question.

I did not know this man
but kneeling closer to him
I can see that he is not there.

Every dead body I have seen
has left me with the same impression
the body is there
but it is empty
a vessel
just flesh and blood.

This,
more than any church
makes me question.