FUNERAL

Today there is a funeral, families embracing
Pious grief, reminded of our spirit’s journey
Sad to be alone, abandoned on this planet.
Now night has fallen, the corpse is in its tomb
The burial ordeal has passed, a sigh of relief.
We live on the surface of life, like a sticky film
Smudging over the deeper below, life and death
Are either or, gloom of the tomb is staged
To keep us in fear of doom, the dead bury.
Ours is to be born again, return as a child
Remembering our most precious memory
Transforming us in repentance, releasing
Us from fear, comforting with love, hope
Faith in a future that we should live daily.
As I lifted my imaginary baton conducting
Beethoven’s violin concerto, a Pierre Fournier
Ethereal moment, the opening crescendo
Driving, tears swelling and then bursting.
Now a half century later, I am still urged
On by that surging energy, vital impulse
That kills death, that I may never die.

c) Jan G. Otterstrom F.
    January 28, 2007
    Palmares, Costa Rica