If It Weren'T For Love Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

You

are laying in your new home

visitors

confirm you’re there

with their signature

blotting lined pages

on a silent open book

your eyes look tired

from an over-worked

mortician’s face-lift

hair coloured

and groomed

just the way you like it

what more can you

ask for

from those who sit

in the front pews

mourning

wet napkins of tears

only the other day

whatever day

you may select

or think it should be

they whispered

of your demise

curiosity lavished their tongues

with wishes

wondering how

you will be missed

if you were to go upstairs

but you’re gone now

to the other side

after your last sleep

on the sofa

leaving a memory

smelling of your

wrinkled presence

so glad to listen

to blissful mourning

asking yourself

why bother
after you’re gone

if it weren’t for love.