I must admit the vicar’s slick
gets through the service pretty quick

reads an anecdote
something the family wrote:

John proposed at the end of a date
top deck of a number thirty-eight
nineteen forty-one
before he was gone
again to fight
like most of the other guys that night

the film they saw was the Wizard of Oz
because because because
they went to see whatever there was
Ollie agreed
they married
it was hurried
but perfect
they fit

(here the vicar pauses, his face darkens and creases
apparently the church was bombed next day and the vicar blown to pieces)

so THAT’s why they started the show
with Somewhere Over the Rainbow

(rather than We’re Off to See the Wizard)

but I have to say, the way the coffin’s delivered
on a kind of fancy stand with rollers
operated by remote controllers
lit by a subtle light
drapes that snake in left and right
it’s all quite magical
tastefully clinical
smoothly invisible
while the vicar says the Lord’s Prayer
blessing us all there
words of comfort from the Mighty Oz
because because because
we all know what the story was
the yellow brick road led right to the City
but Oz was lost like us, more’s the pity