The house is in darkness
The curtains are drawn

Dying
Do you think of it often
Does it invade your thoughts

A man died before town meeting
He still won the election

Grandfather had cancer
He sat in a chair in the corner
A jar of lemon drops on the table beside him
Waiting

Car wrecks took
A friend
Then another
And another

I could no longer bear the funerals
I mowed the lawn instead

Losing a mentor
Allowed me to understand
Suicide is a desperate grab
For peace

I thought I knew death
Would be prepared
When my father died

I was wrong.