he's gone

when he died no one
was quite sure
when.
he had been
so silent for so
long, asleep
beneath
the headlines
of the post.
nothing stirred,
the watch
still circling
with time.
the tv as always
on, a tumbler
of scotch thinned
yellow
by the melting
ice. no one
was quite sure
which hour
he was last in,
and niether, most
likely did he.