dressed in his Sunday best
blue pin striped suit
is our dearly departed Percy
his gills are blue
as a result of a heart attack
last Thursday afternoon
the color co-ordination
of his suit and gills
are an interior designer's coup

the mortuary attendants
wheel Percy out to the awaiting hearse
it has Dunlop X 27's fitted all round
ensuring Percy has a cushioned ride
not that it much matters to him
as he's in an eternal state of unawareness

up a sweeping driveway
with Myrtle trees on either side
Percy's remains arrive at the doors
of a sandstone building
his body is taken inside
to a room filled with floral tributes

music strikes up  
on the Wurlitzer *****
Amazing Grace is played
an apt selection this hymn
for this kind of occasion

tissues and hankies are ready
to catch the odd wet nose
and many tears
which shall flow

Ralph Odges
the local Uniting Church Minister
gives a wordy discourse
telling of Percy's colorful life and times
Odges is a prattler
he likes to go on
the mourners
are lost in the mists
of grief

slowly his mortal remains
are delivered into
the baking chamber
his relatives remember
his last gasping words
take me to Sizzlers
for a full body roast
so that they did...