Wake up, try harder

Wake up
Try harder
The dying woman said
As if it was a scripture
Troubling her head

Wake up, try harder
She replied again
To an absent father
On a west bound train

I thought she was a gift
To this place of ghosts
She could talk the talk
She outdid her all hosts

She stood up in the council room
And bravely made her speech
Their ears hung down like nightshades
As if they’d heard a witch

Wake up, try harder
The dying woman said
As if she hurt with scripture
That was going round her head

Wake up try harder
She repeated time again
Until the moment hankered down
Inside my memory