to partake
in the next life?
What would it take
to be—and stay
at peace?
Experiment: stand alone
at dusk,
trying sincerely
to picture the deceased
as agile, pliant;
as distant and laughing;
as slapping
at the silver
waters—privately,
but all
together—shining
in an endless sea.
*
Everything still
reminds us
of them—
especially the way
they still remind us
of all the things
they never can be.
