While cleaning out my desk I found a poetry project from eighth grade. That’s right. Eighth grade. Now I’d never say I’m a good poet and let me just say- I was definitely still in my teen angst phase. All in all, I wrote five poems of which one didn’t make me cringe.  

The Ode to the Deceased

When our dear loved ones move on
To what some believe to be another world,
They leave behind a part of themselves,
Whether it be material like money and jewelry,
Or memories such as a fine summer’s day.
They have completed their journey,

Finished the game
And now can finally rest
But with something up their sleeve no less.

For they are the ones who know the truth.
They now know that sacred secret.
They have seen the other part of life

The one thing that our instincts tell us to fear
They have embraced,
With or without that same fear

So raise up your candles
And bow your heads
In respect to the deceased,
For they have finished the deadly game
And they know all the means

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P.S. It’s nice to know that even after fourteen years, the concept of death still hangs heavy on me.