the dead have come to visit.
and not because they’re lonely.
they’re never alone, never unaided.
we’re the ones that find ourselves
abandoned in their absence.
we get lonelier as time plods by and
death snatches those that remain.
as more people pass, more gaps are created
(like teeth gone missing in a well-stocked mouth)
and pretty soon we find ourselves alone
in an increasingly cold and forsaken world.
they come by only to cheer us up with no
intention of scaring the bejesus out of us.
they come by and wave to us like flags in
the wind, reminding us that they are still there,
beckoning us to see them, to acknowledge
their presence. their faces are emblems of
themselves as they were when we knew them;
and as they pass silent, by the score, wishing to
greet us by sight alone.