Through tear-swollen eyes, I see a muted blur of somber faces.
All of them assembled here for that last and lingering goodbye.
They are our friends, our loved ones, those who have shared our journey.
They file by and speak in hushed and saddened tones of you and me...and us.
They tell me you died a hero, as if that should somehow ease the pain.
As if those words, like a soothing salve, could make the soul-deep wound less raw.
Like scalding water, roiling and boiling in my throat, the grief churns and chokes.
I cannot speak. I dare not let the bitter bile of anguish bubble up and out.
They close the coffin, shutting out the light from the silk-lined box...and my life.
The muffled scream inside my head echoes so loudly I fear they will hear
my desperation, my desolation, my realization that I am, from this day on, alone.