Endings

We came here to escape endings,
But endings follow us even here;
If we had no mobiles, if we
Didn’t buy the papers and watch the evening
News, would we escape them?

Would they send sky writers, Banksy,
Sign painters or reinvent the telegram?
Somehow they’d find a way to force the words
Before our faltering eyes: Cancer,
Hospice, Palliative Care, The Big D.

Is it too much to ask for some respite?
OK, it’s all part of life but don’t we
Deserve at least to step outside in the morning and,
In the green moment, breathe the unexcited air,
And stare into the white wide wordless sky?