Adoption
Jun 03 2011 Filed in: Jims Poems
Adoption
I’ve decided to befriend a dead person.
I will pick out a cemetery at random
And a tombstone at random
Preferably a very old one
With a barely readable name,
Perhaps a woman who died young,
Or a man crushed
In some unspeakable accident
Or a sainted nun, who died in her sleep.
Befriending the dead costs us nothing.
They can die no more
And will always be there for us.
They will never ask us for money,
Or uncomfortable love.
They will never deny us forgiveness,
Or say a critical word
Or yawn at tales
Told too many times
Of lost love
Or our travels ends.
Perhaps I will adopt more than one.
A man can never have
Too many friends.
I’ve decided to befriend a dead person.
I will pick out a cemetery at random
And a tombstone at random
Preferably a very old one
With a barely readable name,
Perhaps a woman who died young,
Or a man crushed
In some unspeakable accident
Or a sainted nun, who died in her sleep.
Befriending the dead costs us nothing.
They can die no more
And will always be there for us.
They will never ask us for money,
Or uncomfortable love.
They will never deny us forgiveness,
Or say a critical word
Or yawn at tales
Told too many times
Of lost love
Or our travels ends.
Perhaps I will adopt more than one.
A man can never have
Too many friends.