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Letter to the Living Dead
by Kristina WoodhillDear Lois,
I did not know you,
But you were brought to life
On this Halloween morning
By my first phone call
Your friend's wife answered
My yesterday's simple query
Identifying red winter wheat flour
You have leavened this day, Lois,
Above any fresh baked bread
Turned out on my kitchen counter
Begging to be sliced, butter ready
I did not know that you had died one month past
I did not hear the car crash
Or hear what might have been
The last truncated words
Of a woman 48 years young
You laughed at death even before death,
The Grim having long ago shaken
Your giving hand
Accepting your written contract
Laughing all the way to the grave
You banked on those left behind,
Patiently waiting, ignoring the Grim
And his fixed rate of exchange
You are the harvest home, the reaping
Of a heart and soul grown larger every season
This Halloween
My friend's mate has your kidney,
Another has your other,
Your heart beats out new rhythms
In a new chest of life treasured,
Your lungs breathe on in yet a fourth
You are the real treasured treat on this Hallowed Day
I would look for you, tomorrow, Lois,
When we bury my other friend's mother,
But I know you will not show,
For you are much too pre-occupied
With still living
10/31/2013
Author's Note: I did not want to make this too long. Another amazing aspect to this story was that my friend's husband knew this woman from 30 years ago in their church youth group. My friend and husband had just visited with her brother and family a few month's past and they knew that he was needing a kidney. This is his second kidney and I'm sure time was of the essence.
Posted on 10/31/2013
Copyright © 2024 Kristina Woodhill
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 10/31/13 at 11:35 PM Really a great piece Kristina. I must show this to my nurse/wife. A great testament to the use of one's body after death. |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 11/01/13 at 10:04 AM What an amazing story. Made all the more macabre and wonderful by the fact that it's real. |
| Posted by Ken Harnisch on 11/01/13 at 06:10 PM Simply an amazing tribute, Kristina. That is all the words I have to say right now but I am in awe. |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 11/03/13 at 01:41 PM a dazzling piece of writing, Kristina. simply extraordinary. who knows but someday your quill will live on in another's hand, to write as marvelously as it's previous owner. |
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