Free Beer!

I've just come across this poem by Patricia Beer - which I believe is quite well known, but I pass it on anyway. I think it's rather good, very cleverly and unshowily crafted, and with a terrific ending. There's a programme about Patricia Beer coming up on Easter Sunday on Radio 4 - I must give it a listen...

The Conjuror

Arriving early at the cemetery
For 'the one o'clock, we looked around
At the last sparks of other people's grief,
The flowers fading back into the ground.

A card inscribed 'With reverent sympathy
From the Magicians' Club' was propped against
A top hat made of blossoms and a wand
Tied with a black velvet bow. We sensed

The rabbits and the ladies sawn in half
One blink away from being visible
Although the quick deceiving hand was changing
To flyaway dust under a ton of soil.

The funeral that we came for turned the corner.
They had been right to think the world of you,
Who conjured up for us, a hearse approaching,
An interest in life. Bravo. Bravo.