Sounds of the Cemetery

How a dead man lowered to the ground
Can bring a whole audience eager
To listen to the sounds of the cemetery

The sheriff's bullet tuned to G chord

Blasting through postcards never sent

The priest's modern rhymes that combine

Five truth, seven lies, and two stolen verse

The hollow tree that performs old blues

From time before Skip James or Son House

The insurance man's uprising political speech

To legally add three more hours to the clock

The poor widow who typewrites infinity

But misspelling somewhere in the middle

The delightful eulogy by the fabulous drunk

Before he is taken away in a black ambulance

Yet the sound that everyone hoped to listen

Silence, a sound no one has heard

(The sound of silence,

Only the dead man aware)