A Silent Day

As that great solemn procession 
Passed between the mourning crowds
I saw the birds fly over silent streets
Collecting the autumns bounty

Perhaps they were pleased at the lack of traffic,
They were undisturbed by that beat of drum 
Metronomic at 75 times a minute.
Undeterred by the field guns bursts

The colour of the slowly moving people
Must catch their eye, but none spotted the spider
On the wreath of flowers. 
No magpie looked at the shiny diamonds

So many different processions
The last is down a country lane 
No crowds, just the birds, the grass,
And still same drum, the same beat 

And past fallen flowers, smiling dogs and silent pony 
The final destination is reached
A chapel as great as any cathedral
There is the last resting place 

Now in the quiet, away from eyes of bird
Away from worlds eyes, a mother, grandmother
A father, grandfather, both laid in earth
Rest they in Peace and Rise in Glory, our brother and sister