October 7th, 2023 upon third anniversary of mine papa's passing...

Death no longer jars, nixes,

and rattles mine sense and sensibilities

without pride nor prejudice
no matter (even with marginal persuasion)

wit and wisdom of Jane Austen ill mixes

with what emotional state my poem fixes.

 

Father long since embarked upon
long day's journey into night

into afterlife destination alone,

October 7th, 2020 mid afternoon

with Earthlings ministration did attone

where night enveloped

and date stamped
his lovely bones

rendered devoid of any groan

courtesy Roxanol (morphine)

 

and Ativan finding him prone

to experience painlessness, and no

his dying wish, plus last will and testament

won't include burial and/or headstone

cuz, he wants to integrate and did intone

cremation as ecologically friendly option

scattering ashes to parts known

someday... yours truly will too

succumb to the dead zone,

where misery in the ascendent.

 

Stark reminder to live fully an urgent yen

to live life fullest between now and when...

ever yours truly exits

stage door left, perhaps ten

twenty, thirty... eighty, ninety, one hundred...

additional orbits around sun

 

a remarkable human phenomenon

(me) courtesy mine burning ken

bequeaths modest minute man

near accursed immortality

longevity totaling even

score of years counting (crows)

and father time among his brethren.

 

Distress unavoidable which mortality doth bring

nevertheless, tis impossible mission

to eradicate pain and suffering, which doth sting

consolation assuages grief, viz prayer

and buttressing coping with spiritual wing

profound absence augments biting zing.

 

Biological reproduction begetting offspring

lodging within uterine abode

subsequent in utero development

regarding accretion embryonic node

biological algorithm doth automatically encode,

nevertheless longevity invariably affected

no doubt courtesy lifestyle mode.

 

Random crapshoot luck of the draw offspring born

genetic blueprints also decree existence transient

parents emphatically teach progeny

got no choice must inform

 

daughter(s), and son(s) ineluctably forsworn

demise bound with birth certificate presents horn

of dilemma conscious the next generation

granted only so many Earth orbitz around sun.

 

Once grim reaper deftly

communicates I must bid adieu

eternal hasta la vista to kith and kin

please don't shed a tear for generic

germane admirable bad company crew

member, albeit healthy as an ox

never got the flu,

an atheist doubting thomas

 

though genealogy records

incorporate many a cynical Jew

at least one legendary antiestablishmentarian

gleaned within mine purview

non-prodigal son edging closer

to the afterlife while livingsocial

within mortality queue
shunned, ostracized and banished to Xanadu.