Night stand

I saw an article about the planning of the funeral

for the queen of England

and she’s not yet dead.

And I thought funerals are for the living,

the almost living, the almost dead;

survivors or rather temporary

survivors filing past a casket

or urn sitting on a night stand

dressed up with an embroidered cloth.

Thank God, none of us are cursed to live forever,

bury all our loved ones and their loved ones

and their loved ones and their loved ones

for all eternity until we don’t even know

how or why we matter to one another.

I have no interest in a prepaid funeral,

picking out the lining of my last bed,

a headstone, a 3 x 6 foot plot of land

or where to scatter my ashes.

I’ll leave that to you…the living,

the almost living, the almost dead

to decide whatever gives you comfort.

8-24-22