here, all pretense is
gone, the situation is
plain and simple: we
are a small group of
people, we are alive
standing beside a hole
human hands dug with
shovels, dirt piled into
a mound, square sides
of the hole scraped clean

in that hole, in that
plain wooden box
is a body, formerly
a person. in that hole
the world as we know
it has ended forever.
the sun shines, it
is warm. the rabbi
says that death is not
our normal way.

the rabbi says, in
that hole is the body
of a man, a good man,
a man who plainly cared
about people, who did
good things and will now
get some unknown,
some unknowable reward.
meanwhile, we should
carry on doing good
things in his name.

afterward, we go through
two large, plain boxes
of clothes and things
we sent to the former
man whose spirit is
gone, whose body lies
in a plain wooden box
buried beneath dirt we
tossed onto it with
a shovel held in our hands.
two boxes, a pine coffin,
is all that remains of him.