Death Certificate - in the memory of my late father

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Blogging from A to Z Challenge [April 2015]

 

A piece of paper

to make me believe

it wasn't a bad dream
the pyre, the cremation
are fears my overactive mind
replayed
 

 

a disinterested old man's

blank stare

from behind the piles

of files

thousands of deaths

stocked as papers

as legal statistics

 

no record

of the empty beds

unused creams, toothpastes

specs through which
his eyes saw the world

his rosary wrapped on my wrist

to feel his rough, old fingertips
to hear him murmur
his sacred chant

 

questions unanswered

I love yous

whys ,unsaid

a 22 second sound recording

a blurry video

of him having his evening chai
in an inexpensive mobile

 

a death certificate

for a date and a time

none for the years

and moments

gone forever.