My senior English teacher, Ms. Koepsel [kep suhl], made my class memorize the following Emily Dickinson poem: They say that ‘time assuages’ —Time never did assuage —An actual suffering strengthensAs Sinews do, with age — Time is a Test of Trouble —But not a Remedy —If such it prove, it prove tooThere was no Malady.Continue reading “The Day of the Dead”
Tag Archives: Death and Dying
The Vision of the Valley of Cancerous Bones
He is sitting on the upper deck of the lake house in Maine. His wife is in the kitchen with her sisters making dinner. Towels are drying on the rail in front of him. He opens the Bible to Ezekiel 37. Most Mormons like it for the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah.Continue reading “The Vision of the Valley of Cancerous Bones”
The Casket Is Open
Early in the evening, the young man goes with his best friend Ted to the calling hours at Seaside Memorial Funeral Home. Chris’s mother is sitting about three pews back from the casket next to a man. She is bone thin and wearing a gray pantsuit. The man must be her second husband. Her firstContinue reading “The Casket Is Open”
His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral 