.
The glass vase had shattered
into a thousand small pieces,
scattered on the floor at the
bottom of the stairs,
along with some newly cut tulips and Mrs. Davis
who had obviously fallen and was
unable to catch herself, or the vase.
The paramedics did not clean up the mess
when they came to get her, two days later,
after a call from a neighbor.
They drove away with her slowly
without the flowers and with no siren.