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.