Last Words

It's Molly's funeral this afternoon.
We saw her only the other day.

'And I was talking to (oh! oh!)...
old Mrs (oh, the name, the name)...'
- seizing her whole wispy head
with splayed-out hand, and shaking it
to dislodge the memory -

'And she told me that (oh!)
had passed away, sudden it was;
you'll ken him, aye him that used
to stay at (oh!) (oh! oh! the name!)...'

We had a brief laugh in the car
(being half-way there ourselves)
before going on to Sainsbury's.

That's how it goes:
you laugh at the old folk,
and next thing you know,
they're dead.