Maybe it was the sudden drain of colour from his cheeks, that I started to notice over the last few weeks 

The vacant expression id started to see in his eyes, like the person he was, the glint that dies

His shift in body weight as he had gone from walking heel to toe 

Was more a shuffle, a dragging, just no up and go

 

Clean shaven, his fresh scent 

Had been replaced with worn clothes and a smell not fresh like a gent 

 

Of course we notice these changes and we smile and offer our “good days” and “how do you do”, not to listen to an actual response just a mechanical, “I’m fine, how about you”

 

It’s clear now he was a changed man 

The depression has beat him, left him isolated this wasn’t his life’s game plan 

 

His death was sudden, the coroner said 

He’d just been there a while hanging by his bedspread 

No visitors had found him it was the build up of mail that cause the police to be alerted and find this bloodshed trail. 

 

No I didn’t know him .. I just passed him on the street 

He was a stranger to me except for that hello in a morning as I got on the bus and found my window seat.