blue hair

God bless the blue
haired ladies,
the soft bellied men
in tow.
high belts
and matching shoes.
easterly plaids
and khakis.
everyone as pink
as buttons on a starched
white shirt.
they sit in the same
pews,
the same
spot for years.
a neighborhood gathering
of who's who.
smelling sweet in
perfume,
bejeweled.
how the prayers,
rote and cold, leave
their hands, their pursed
lips,
rarely going anywhere,
stalled
at the arched old
roof.