Funeral Poster

Looking at the face
Of the man on the poster
I put myself
In the dead man's shoe
I imagine myself
Like the man in the morgue
Lonely
Abandoned
Friendless
Naked
Empty
Unwanted
Ready for the earth
Good for only worms


It could be me
The proud earth
With intelligence and pride
Religious fundamentalism and bigotry
I, a racial cum ethnic and political jingoist
Ready to fight and kill
For what I hold dear
Now left

Lonely
Abandoned
Friendless
Naked
Empty
Unwanted
Ready for the earth
Good for only worms;

My good friend once wrote
Men do terrible things
To please their tribes,
Races or religions but which
Throw them six feet below the earth
When their breath ceases
Or pile up wood
And roast them like barbecue
On a pier and burn them to useless ashes.