afterlife, ante-life

someone says
at a funeral
i wish i would have known my mother
when she was young
and carefree

will my children have this wish?
it is a beautiful idea
in one way, to wish to know
a thing that requires you to cede
your existence

a funeral is the right place to feel this way
someone has just ceded their existence
in one way
and will begin to know
whatever there will be to know

the things that come after life, i think,
must be like the things that stray
into pictures from before we were born

like this one of grandma at 19 or so
on her bike
ready to go wherever she is going

which is a place
whose reality hangs
intermingled with the fact you are here
boxing up photos