CREMATION

funerals are always for
the living they say, rituals
of burial things we do
with the remains to help
ourselves accept the truth
of death. there is no body,
no corpse to dress. the sun
still shimmers on the leaves
through the venetian blinds.

i opened the cabinet
above your bed, took out
the sacred words and read
them through the night,
read them one by one.
today I'll take them
to the river
strike a match
burn them slowly
scatter the ashes of the years
out upon the wind.

© Joan Barton, 1999

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