She took her last breath as we put the clocks on.
Lambs, daffodils, Easter eggs, cheerful optimism,
but a funeral to attend and relatives to console.
We’ll Google the church’s car park,
agree to work around that afternoon with bosses and clients.
Follow the coffin in, glance at riotous banks of grape hyacinth.
There will be hymns.
All Things Bright and Beautiful no doubt,
The Old Rugged Cross, perhaps.
Choke back a lump in the throat at the eulogies,
smile with damp eyes at anecdotes.
What will move us most are the details of her youth,
how she played nicely with her sister sometimes,
what her parents did for a living;
Spring details, when her life was beginning.
Ben Banyard lives in Portishead, near Bristol, UK. He’s the author of a pamphlet, Communing (Indigo Dreams, 2016) and a full collection, We Are All Lucky (Indigo Dreams, 2018). He blogs and posts mixtapes at https://benbanyard.wordpress.com.
Foxglove Journal 