Wednesday, April 26, 2023

when the dead visit

 



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.