Nobody came

Barry fell dead in the street.

A crowd of inquisitive people gathered around him.

The traffic stopped.

The police picked him up

and deposited him at the morgue.

Three days in succession they waited for a relative,

a friend, an acquaintance to come.

Nobody came.

Then Barry was placed in a special refrigerator.

What a symbol.

A refrigerator for people who are forgotten.

They waited another two weeks.

Still nobody came.

Then one afternoon

he was put in a hearse

and taken to the cemetery-

buried like a lost object.

Barry

was a human being,

a man

alone in the city,

buried long ago

by other people.