And life still goes on..., a poem

The birds didn't know.

They kept singing the same songs

outside a window I couldn't look out of.

The grass kept growing.

Somebody, somewhere, mowed a lawn that morning.

As if that was still a normal thing to do.

The shoppers kept shopping.

Carts full of milk and bread and small decisions

like the biggest one hadn't just been made without them.

Traffic lights kept changing.

Red, yellow, green.

Nobody stopped to ask if they should.

I'm standing still.

The world didn't check with me first.

It just kept moving, the way water keeps moving

even after something has sunk to the bottom of it.

People said "life goes on"

like it was a comfort.

It didn't feel like comfort.

It felt like betrayal wearing a gentle voice.

How is the coffee shop still open.

How is there a line.

How is someone laughing two tables over

like laughing was still allowed.

I wanted to grab the whole world by the shoulders.

Stop!

Don't you understand what happened??

But the world kept ringing up groceries.

Kept turning green lights greener.

Kept growing grass over ground

that used to just be ground.

And life went on

without asking permission.

Without slowing down.

Without him in it.

The birds are still singing.

I still don't know how they can.