At My Child's Funeral Poem by EU STRESS

When they laid your corpse
Upon the wet ground
And asked me to sprinkle earth upon you
How strangely confusing it felt,
As your white little body
Was gradually getting submerged
In the moist, brown soil.

For a moment
I felt you were still respiring,
Your chest - heaving in silence,
And a terror chilled my spine:
What if we’re mistaken?
What if your heart is still beating?
What if we realize it’s all a mistake –
Once its too late……?

No.
You are inert and frozen.
And the earth has engulfed you.

Driving away from the cemetery
It seemed we had left you behind;
I could hear you shriek -
“Please don’t leave me here
To rot among rotten strangers;
I belong to you.
Won’t you take me back home with you? ”

I am home.
But the home is desolate without you,
And so is my lap.
I’m only left with your lifeless belongings
To hug tight and weep over.

[Composed at the demise of my pet dog, yes -my one and only child].