I have a couple of poems today from Hayden Carruth. Today is his 87th birthday (Happy Birthday!).

I was reading his poem, Prepare, which he wrote for his wife:

“Why don’t you write me a poem that will prepare me for your
death?” you said.
It was a rare day here in our climate, bright and sunny. I didn’t feel like
dying that day.
I didn’t even want to think about it — my lovely knees and bold
shoulders broken open, …
read the entire poem on his website

The poem doesn’t mention the afterlife per se. Still, I think about it when I read mostly anything about dying, and often I have wondered why so many religions teach that there is an afterlife, but yet when someone dies, no one seems to believe it. Perhaps it is the shock of permanent physical separation. You can think you’re prepared for it, but you never really are.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: birthday, death