Unexpensive Farewell. (Emotional Trauma) Poem by Tor Magnor Solvang

The past was simpler, days of old,
When living costs were stories told.
Even saying a final goodbye,
Didn't make a family cry
Over bills too big to bear,
Leaving loved ones in despair.

A serious word, a whispered fear,
But hope remained, held ever dear.
No debt to leave, no weight to hold,
A comfort in the stories told.
For such talk was seldom shared,
Just quiet strength, a burden bared.

No plans were made for what would be,
The paper trail, the cost, the plea
For wishes known, a final say,
Before they gently passed away.
But friends and kin, and those nearby,
Would help them all, beneath the sky.

Now days are different, hard to know,
Where to begin, where tears will flow.
What's needed now, what can be spared,
The costs they never were prepared.
Grief weighs them down, a heavy load,
Lost on a confusing road.

The bill arrives, a shocking sum,
More than a year's wages come.
Decisions made, with weary mind,
To things they cannot understand or find.
When illness struck, a chilling threat,
Not death itself, but what was met.

My family lost, in rooms of dread,
Nodding at words, though hearts had bled.
Too sad to ask, too tired to fight,
Lost in the dimming, fading light.
This scene I wished I'd leave behind,
So I tell my own, with gentle mind.

'As cheap as you can, make it so,
No fancy frills, no costly show.
Just simple peace, a place to sleep,
A grave to hold our secrets deep.
For burning fires, I don't desire,
But if it saves, then fuel the pyre."