A good time to use the word knell

People react to death differently

There was this guy I knew
young
just turned eighteen when it happened
He crashed a car
killing himself and three passengers
one of them a girl
getting a lift home
He was drunk too
or he was drinking at least
Vodka

The thing that got me though
was
they hit a man
about forty-eight
maybe forty-nine

I mean
he didn’t have any kids or anything
but still
I always think
that could have been me
and I see the quarter bottle
in his lap
running low
I can see the sweet liquid
shining in the glow of stoplights

The whole town turned out
hundreds
filling the street
The black river of the procession

A tragedy
they called it

Then there was this old guy I knew
quiet
liked a civil drink
and a good book

He
never (NEVER)
hurt anyone

He died alone in a care home

There couldn’t have been more than ten there

And his wife
crooked and now-broken
looked tearfully around
and said to me
“Well, it is raining”

That’s it
a lifetime of buying drinks
replying to letters
working
paying bills on time
standing aside in hallways
attending birthdays
weddings
funerals
dinner parties
telling jokes

Reading
Fucking
Books

There’s no reason to it
There just isn’t

but
it throws you