Buff Whitman-Bradley
Absence Here for a whileGone for a whileThen even our absenceWill vanish Ceremony Here is how I would likeTo be sent off:Find an old jarPut it outside without a lidWhen it is filled with rainEveryone pass it aroundAnd drink until the water is goneThen say something preposterousBreak the jarEat pie The Ordinary Person’s Book of the Dead After your heart stops beatingAnd you begin making your wayToward oblivion’s wide front doorIt will ease the grief you feelPassing from presence to absenceTo focus your attentionOn the 10,000 times you did not dieRather than the one time you did