taking out the body

filmy plastic bags
leap up in the wind
against the nursing home
across the street --
some white some gray --
startled by the stiff breeze


on Sunday there is not
the usual parade of ambulances
coming to take the residents
to the hospital, or for dialysis


simultaneously the groundsman
comes out with his wheeled
trashbucket and rake
to pick up the debris
and a short white ambulance
pulls into the drive


takes me a minute to realize
this is not an ambulance
but a foreshortened hearse


two men in bulky black coats
against the chill weather
and white gloves get out


as I watch, the groundsman
snags the limp plastic bags
rakes the trash caught up
against the iron fence


then the hearsemen (morticians?
undertakers?) come out of 
the nursing home with a 
black wrapped bundle on 
their gurney


slow and stately
the whole process takes
less than ten minutes