Dying In The Distance

by Michael R. J. Roth

Chatting in a coffee shop
With a guy who’s feeling urgent
About getting into politics
He insists he’s an insurgent

Behind him through the window
Is an ambulance across the street
They’re hauling out a stretcher
Someone covered by a sheet

And I’m suddenly ashamed
For having artful conversations
And clever things to say
With people dying in the distance

A quiet TV on the wall
Spewing natural disasters
Contagions and explosions
And the savviest broadcasters

Who never seem to be ashamed
For having artful conversations
And clever things to say
With people dying in the distance

Bridge
All the murder that we witness
Children kill their classmates
While asking for forgiveness
Mothers kill their children
And then go about their business
And I just carry on
With people dying in the distance

Around the world, across the street,
The shadows getting close to me
Following the path of least resistance
Before you know it I’ll just be
[Another person] dying in the distance

Yeah, I’ll just be another name
In the artful conversations
About people dying in the distance