Tag Archives: funerals

ODE TO LINDSEY GRAHAM

Senator Lindsey Graham speaking at a podium with a microphone during a press conference
Senator Lindsey Graham addressing the media at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

How does one honor the dishonorable ?

Whose deeds and words were  unfathomable?

Not while he lived to injure and harm,

stepping on humanity to reach the stars.

It was always just part of his charm,

which gave him power to praise and assist

acts committed by others,

as he laughingly followed along.

Then, he died.

The rules change as custom required.

Speak no ill of the dead, 

as if evil deeds, too, expired.

How do the tears rent in our nation mend

if we must simply pretend

He was all goodness and light.

Such a memorial I cannot attend.

Who am I to judge? Imperfect in every way.

Silence is golden on a day like today.

He tried to do good, in his broken way.

I cannot offer false condemnation nor false praise.

I can simply write an ode to death’s malaise.

Finally, finally able, to continue to pray

for a soul laid to rest, as our struggle against hate continues.

Perhaps he can finally find love in his new venue.

This is all I can offer. This is my best.

Now, lay this flawed human being , like all of us, to rest.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

MASK THE SKY

The Covid pandemic stole funerals for the loved ones

left behind to bury their dead.

Final viewings in pleasant rooms

meant to dispel the sorrowing gloom

of family and friends

gathered to share fond memories

and mend the tear in hearts

became limited to the closest few

wiling to dare the threat of virus.

How fearful it all seemed

to nations unwilling to mask against infection

and end the dread of more illness and death.

“Freedom” shouted anti-vaxers who waged war 

on those in need of greatest protection.

And yet.

And yet.

Those truly defending their freedom

lie dying and dead unable to even be buried.

Bodies stacked along streets

of Mariupol, Chernihiv and Sumy.

Bombs rain down upon still-living heads

one-a-minute, bringing more dead

to fall without witness other than

their fellow dead. 

Too dangerous to gather bodies

torn apart and bled.

Too dangerous to even bury the corpse.

No funerals nor gatherings of course.

How much crueler can life get?

And  still anti-maskers refuse to mask;

not their own faces, but the skies above Ukraine

allowing missiles still to rain

down nothing but death

upon those who truly know what it means

to stand for freedom.

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Filed under POETRY

For Wendy

Jewels like crystals shine

Across the frozen face of snow.

We say avoir, not good-bye.

For all we know

Light never dies

But quietly moves it’s glow

to other sights and sites

where Jewel now delights

In her new life.

And, yet, we mourn

Our grey-grief days

where Jewel once shown

in lives of our own.

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Filed under POETRY