Helicopters

And when they told him
That he’d had a minor heart attack
He hadn’t even noticed.Last night you awoke
To the sound of war
In the backyard.The war he survived
By the skin of his yellowing teeth
Only to find out
That last night was almost the last.

You went upstairs &
Found the chopper circling,
Heaving, hovering,
Above your roof.
It was shining a light
And searching for someone
To kill.

He didn’t hear it
He hadn’t even noticed his heart
Stop.
While you stood –
in your Simpsons boxer shorts
in the midnight heat of November –
Wondering if This Was It.

The helicopter pumping
Like a mechanical heart.
Relentless,
Perpetual,

Just like your grandfather.

They found who they
Were looking for
You retired to bed, as
He arose from his with a start.

A feeling
Like a helicopter losing power
Dropping gracelessly
Out of the night sky

A feeling
Like you are no longer safe
Enveloping you
In suffocating darkness

A feeling
A realisation
That one day
We will all stop whirring.

Relentless,
Perpetual,

A swarm of bees stuck in a block of ice.