Certainty

There are more people alive now than have ever lived I read that somewhere and instantly thought it impossible but if it were to be true I wonder that, if we keep living this fast, no-one will have time to die I've met people whose lovers died in war and I've wondered what this helplessness could be like One minute there's a whole life entwined with yours and the next, just a space and scattered clues When I watch old films in which animals appear I get sad because those animals are certainly dead now And that certainty prompts my private epitaph and I have to say it out loud "That dog is dead, that cat is dead, that horse is dead..."