Homily

No one’s ever died from making a bed,
She said to her granddaughter to tease her
And get after her to make the damn bed,

But probably her claim was incorrect.
Someone must have died from making the bed,
Proximate, if not distal, cause of death.

Just the other day, on the Internet,
An article warned of the germs that get
Comfortable, snug within a well-made bed.

There are people who live in unmade beds,
Who half make up their beds, who hate their beds,
Who have no beds. Statistically speaking,

The most dangerous thing would seem to be
To get stuck in bed, especially one
Made for transporting the sick and the dead.

Life is maintenance, child, the grandmother
Should have said. No one’s ever avoided
That fact by refusing to make a bed.