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.