Eulogy

on that day
they tucked you away in some book
closing out your story
in a sad, newspaper clipping that
Mom never wanted to cut out

it’s a funny thing, eulogies,
the way they always
state the facts but never
deal in the truths —
‘She leaves behinds’ —
‘he did thises and thats’

what about her beauty?
that wasn’t ‘formal’ enough
to be typed up in the local rag,
or how loving he was,
or how her hair bathed
in the breeze in that, oh, so delicate way?

on that day when they
tucked you away in some book
closing out your story –
the faded grey clipping
only got it half right:

truth told, your story goes on with us.