Death Relates Poem by john tiong chunghoo

unrelated
but death relates

she lies there
like she is asleep

death - where
the first and last
experiences come
face to face spilling
a bag of grief both ways

somehow this
seventy something
still rediates life
that draws one's
endearment

a small Chinese woman
in the mortuary
waiting to be washed
in that neat posture,
soft expression and delicate
features of a caring person

she must have loved children
you can see it
in her death manner
if there is any manner lesson
to be taken this is one

that last best wish
for her grandchildren probably -
shines through her

the years of caring
for the young ones
so much love must have
flowed from her that even
at her last, she laid out
herself elegantly to express her best wish

the world could not but stop
to give her some grateful thoughts

and i did

and i know too soon
there will be sobs, tears
and the same wish since
first death struck
- that she will be back
and of course,
the midnight tear choking dreams