The First Step

She was strange, with her strangeness
pulled out before them,
crumpled tissues in her bag
and spilling on the floor.
Nobody gave permission, but it seemed
unfriendly, and all the words had Latin roots.
Stubbornly, without consequence,
the elephant on the staircase
made his move. There was an orange syringe,
and God heard a strange voice.
We might have thought of that before
the bodies that lie down.