PATHOLOGY REPORT.(Poem)

 
   The Facts 
 
   Description 
   Female, five foot, extremely old. 
   Quite healthy, though. Has kept her teeth. 
 
   Injuries 
   Had met with an accident, as if she'd been 
   trampled underfoot by a mob. 
   Mud in the wounds, which are black with dirt. 
 
   Her blood was toxic: 
   traces of mogadon and digitalis. 
   Not enough to kill 
   but she'd be listless 
   and feeling ill. 
 
   A knife-wound. But not deep enough 
   to be fatal. The lack of blood 
   suggests a trauma on a corpse. 
 
   Analysis 
   The subject suffered at least three 
   ways of dying. Two are normally 
   sufficient to persuade a body 
   to stay dead. It's hard to credit the strength 
   of this one's will and the self-belief 
   that kept her ...