left front row -
dense country breeze
gently rains down.
inadequate crowd -
naked in tears
for showing up
empty-handed.
someone speaks -
i have never met him,
but he knows names,
places, accomplishments.
stone-packed field -
i see two for my parents,
and my sister, fragile,
drops a tulip between them.
civilian tradition -
no honorable flag,
no guns, no bugle;
generic newspaper ashes.
it's unbelievable to think
poets die like everyone else.
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