Life After Death

A Poem for my Father

life after death

I was not there to watch you pass on

From this life to the next

And maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be

But I still visited you from afar

Sitting outside your home

Hoping you were sleeping well

I went to church often

Lighting a candle in your name

Asking God to take you soon

And God did

Just this past Thursday, at four am

And now that God took you

That part of me is gone, too

Your funeral is in two weeks

The viewing is over two days

I let you go already

I don’t know if I can let you go again

“Pay your respects” is what I’m told

What a strange thing to do

Wouldn’t one do this

While you were alive?

Why do we wait

When the love one is gone?

Don’t we respect them enough

To see them while they are alive?