They're waiting to be murdered,
Or evicted. Soon
They expect to have nothing to eat.
As far as I know, they never go out.
A vicious pain's coming, they think.
It will start in the head
And spread down to the bowels.
They'll be carried off on stretchers, howling.
Simic uses “vicious pain” as a euphemism for death. It feels like an understatement, but still manages to express the physical, human nature of death.
Old Couple