Unfinished Funeral Poem by Neso Onyeuche

open my casket.
find the breath I could not lose,
still caught in my throat.

no longer dying,
I've eaten dirt for nothing,
been buried in vain.

find me lying still:
the ungrateful survivor,
reanimated.

you must exorcise
the demon in me who caused
you to grieve early,

or you must applaud
the angel in me that tried
to lift my burden

from off your shoulders.
else, you must fasten the lid,
mercifully swift.

if all leads to death,
give me the dignity of
at least being mourned.