wednesday, october 20
today i skipped work
to attend the funeral of a young
man i met only once
according to the bulletin
they gave us at the door
he would have been 24 tomorrow
he seemed, it's true, remarkable enough
when i met him - visibly, audibly dealing
with the car crash damage that
i guess finally brought his body to a halt
but still alive, maybe more than most of us
like so many people i meet
he slipped my mind
until molly called the other night
to ask if i would go with her
to the service
it was a baha'i funeral
different scripture and verse but
perhaps the same message as the rest:
your beloved believed and lives
some times it rings truer than others;
there was not much pretense or dishonesty here
only a series of people reading,
a song, some stories
and a room full of other peoples'
grief, held suspended a little by
other hopes than i have most days.