Offered On A Corpse Poem by Sangnam Nam

Offered On A Corpse

Yes, they were flowers
on this beautiful man
in his coffin at a Catholic church
I happened to drop by
He was lying in his coffin
surrounded by numerous flowers
in all colors but what struck me the most
was not the flowers but the beauty
of the man the corpse
a young man died the night before
of drug overdose
I heard the news the night when
he was found dead
in a small town of New Mexico
the young man with his blond ponytail
tied in the back was so strikingly beautiful
but his soul was gone
nowhere to be found
where is he?
I a stranger visitor
of the church funeral
have to follow the custom of
having to kiss him on the cheek
that young man is covered by the
colorful flowers but his beauty and youth
out stood the beauty of the flowers
people in a queue were kissing him on the cheek
I in the same queue am slipping out of the queue
not because I didn't care for him
nor afraid of kissing on a corpse
but had to talk to the priest who presided over
the funeral with my own issues
Daniel was the priest's name
a friend of the dead young strikingly beautiful man
they grew up together
and asked me what matter was that brought me
to come to talk to him
while he was still busy preparing for the funeral
The church was quiet and people didn't cry or
sob over this young man's death
but silently kissing him off
to send him away to another world
so sad to see the young man dead and
leave all of us
so gorgeous his feature was
but sadly in his coffin
I could have watched him there for hours or days
if nobody was there
but the funeral had to be taken place and
the priest who had just talked to me
over my issues that were bothering me
was reading his eulogy
and I then had slipped out of the church
and then the town
I had no time to wait until the funeral end
and see the man go on his journey
With no parting words
I left the church and him in his coffin
filled with the flowers and his dead body
He is a flower to me and to the world who
saw the feature
Hope he ends up to be an angel in Heaven
so I could see him some more in later years
and Daniel the priest he performed the funeral
for his belated friend from his childhood
The day was going so smoothly and
I and the priest were done with talking
but the young dead man reminded me of someone
I left a bit while before
was afraid he could be him?
They resembled very much with their
beauty and hair color and the shape of
the body features
but wasn't him, thank God,
The town was mourning and I was mourning
over the fact that I was away from him
and see another like him in coffin
covered with these flowers as young and fresh
as he was
I am still lucky for I could talk to Daniel
and could observe the funeral at the same time
Sorry Daniel for I kept you from your busy
schedule to have to prepare for the funeral
of his late friend of his from childhood
relieved that he was not him
I took a leave for another town
on my journey to find the truth
and the answers to all my quests,
that was 1993
some twenty years have passed by
like the wind that leaves the rose
he truly cares about
Still the flowers around the dead young man
in his coffin make my breaths taken away
as the beautiful young man the one in coffin
and the one I had just left some time before

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
Written in 2013.
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