Charles Simic

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Old Couple
By Charles Simic b. 1938 Charles Simic
They’re waiting to be murdered,
Or evicted. Soon
They expect to have nothing to eat.
In the meantime, they sit.


A violent pain is coming, they think.
It will start in the heart
And climb into the mouth.
They’ll be carried off in stretchers, howling.


Tonight they watch the window
Without exchanging a word.
It has rained, and now it looks
Like it’s going to snow a little.


I see him get up to lower the shades.
If their window stays dark,
I know his hand has reached hers
Just as she was about to turn on the lights.