Charles Simic - Late September lyrics

The mail truck goes down the coast Carrying a single letter At the end of a long pier The bored seagull lifts a leg now and then And forgets to put it down There is a menace in the air Of tragedies in the making Last night you thought you heard television In the house next door You were sure it was some new Horror they were reporting So you went out to find out Barefoot, wearing just shorts It was only the sea sounding weary After so many lifetimes Of pretending to be rushing off somewhere And never getting anywhere This morning, it felt like Sunday The heavens did their part By casting no shadow along the boardwalk Or the row of vacant cottages Among them a small church With a dozen gray tombstones huddled close As if they, too, had the shivers