a thousand funerals

a thousand funerals.

all the people you live with, die
some die before,
some after

some die with you, everyday
each night

others are alive,
but something died in them.
*
light a pyre
for each one

dig deep to
bury your thoughts of them

set their memories sail
on a burning boat
*
all the people that live, die
a thousand deaths

of the predator,
the priest,
the demon,
the dreamer,

the lover,
the cheat,
and the child,
in them.
*
and all that die, live
a thousand funerals

of the person they were
as the person they are

grief only finds the living,
the dead don't feel the loss.
*
so
light a pyre
for each one

and then, light one for yourself
for the part you're ready to leave behind

how else to mourn the death
of someone who's still alive.
****