Can't you hear it?

Can’t you hear it?

You were dead before the day had even begun,
but you never could have known it.

C   r     a      c        k

Broken
in seven places, they told me afterwards.


---


There was a stale taste in the air
as we set out,
though at the time I wouldn’t have taken any notice of it.
Those fresh leather seats seemed so…
                                                               inviting.

We both knew we were well above the limits:
all of them.
Too fast, too high and too intoxicated.

And somewhere along the way,

                                                          time stopped.

For a fleeting moment there was silence,
and it roared in my ears louder than anything
I had ever heard before.
Did you hear it, too?

I saw it before it happened;
my nails dug into that fresh, clean leather
and I recoiled, looked at you –
saw your proud smile die in an instant
as you lunged back, your gentle neck breaking
the silence…

C   r     a      c        k

But time is dragging back again now,
and this is the part that haunts me
          every
             lonely
                 night.

Soon the sirens and cars and crowds
will sound their forceful clatter,
and I will hear them, but do nothing
because all I see is

you, slumped forward.
Please stop leaning on the wheel,
can’t you hear the car horn blaring?