I asked him what spiel-song
plucked from the hymn sheet

would explain away how the
drunken driver was allowed

to crash out the corner walls
of his church at that bend in

the road, but he wasn’t playing
even though I waited for a reply.

He did say the man apologised
publicly through the newspaper,

asking to be forgiven,
and I said I thought the guy

was just getting ahead of
his inevitable sentencing.