"Ode to Mourning"

‘Dylan lay in an open casket, his face restored, no sign of the gaping head wound. He looked peaceful. His face was surrounded by a circle of Beanie Babies and other stuffed toys.’    From “Columbine” by Dave Cullen

Keeper of the Dead,

Do you ever weep for the living?
We hardly ever seem to abide a day
Without grieving some body or time lost.

I’d rather lay it off on selfishness than

Faithlessness, for never have I been without
Occasional vice and gladly defer character to
Soul redaction nurtured by unholy embraces.

Some can’t say dead, some can’t see dead.

Others know the results of Judgment Day
In advance even of the announcement of
Jubilation’s opening act. This I ponder.

Those that like me, sat the night in a death house

Comforted by ones loved not wisely
But too well, realize the mistakes of us left
Alive now no longer haunt our beloved departed.

It is this cyclic end that is out horror to bear,

Life, interrupted. Her pallid conscience adrift in an
Indigo night fraught with rogue waves lurking.
Welcome new mornings chance we may love again!