Something in me, I suppose, must be going blind

My granddad and his friends
crawled through mineshafts
lights shining from their foreheads
hacking at clumps of coal.

A mechanic under a Toyota
working through his lunch break
to make the engine rev.

Grave diggers working at night
so that passers by aren't reminded
of their own mortality.

Burgulars hiding in a back alley
after being disturbed, then chased,
looking behind them
as they climb through a hole in the fence
hiding under dustbin bags
listening to the sirens,