Old Couple

They’re waiting to be murdered,

Or evicted. Soon

They expect to have nothing to eat.

In the meantime, they sit.

A violent pain is coming, they think.

It will start in the heart

And climb into the mouth.

They’ll be carried off in stretchers, howling.

Tonight they watch the window

Without exchanging a word.

It has rained, and now it looks

Like it’s going to snow a little.

I see him get up to lower the shades.

If their window stays dark,

I know his hand has reached hers

Just as she was about to turn on the lights.