Last Request Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Before she died her last wish was to be buried, not cremated,
she a feared waking up from a deep coma and no one would
hear her screams and rescue her from the jaws of inferno.
Her husband ignored her want, cremation was more viable,
and anyway how was she to know? The crematory attendant
was outside smoking a cigarette reflecting on the irony that
he had to go outside when bodies were burnt to ash inside.
He was startled by a piercing shriek, birds in trees took flight.
Must be a hawk killing a starling, he thought. On the branch of
an old oak a crow sat, in the afternoon light it looked golden
wore a halo; and had eyes as blue as the ocean.