MAY IS FOR DYING-a poem [Sun, 4-29-18]

Undertakers and preachers know that October and May are the dying months. The prettiest months are the dying months. It’s easier to understand when you are closer to dying. If you don’t want to take another winter, you die in October. If you’ve gone ahead into winter, when it is finally over, and you have endured, it’s okay to die. In May.

MAY IS FOR DYING-a poem            [Sun, 4-29-18]

April is the cruelest month

but May is the month

for dying

when daffodils

and robins feel

the frost go limp

beneath their feet

and the understudies

of maple leaves

propeller down

when snow has finally lost

its last and dirty hope

then we die

to spite the winter

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

A CIW BONUS: I recently mentioned my first pastoral appointment, The Methodist Church in Solsberry, IN. In their membership book, certain people were marked as “puny and feeble” to explain why they did not come to church but should be kept on the membership rolls anyway. I think that should be a standard addition to the membership categories: Full Member; Associate Member; Constituent; Puny and Feeble.