As suddenly as today
I know it by the small crowd
Of housewives gathers always
The neighbours hurried in and out
Some chatted away
A police car parked aside
Abruptly, carelessly
Somebody cried her heart out
The children idled by
They wondered how thieves broke in
Robbed and fled in five
The police went grimly in
As if the house were theirs
And they queried the passers-by
Who dialled nine-nine-nine
And then the gossipers, and the sis-in-law
Who doesn't live here
To comfort the grieving victim
There'll be that community meeting
Of people in the neighbourhood
It's easy as a sign
The intuition of the news
In just a little town
