After we are dead
Throw out the papers
And spend all the cash.
The memories
are ours,
not yours;
They ended
with the lapse,
of that final,
pulsing synapse,
Shredded and torn,
blasted and shorn,
Leaves that faded
and fell
and decayed
Like all before
From Nebuchadnezzar,
to Christian Dior.
So throw out the papers
And spend all the cash
Our memories
are now
naught but trash.
A book of rhymes,
You can save,
a doll
or a toy,
That letter you scribbled
on notebook paper
in deepest regret
For ripping the curtains off the wall
and tossing your mattress on the floor,
Til your progeny
Shall throw out your papers
And spend all your cash.
But wait!
Along the way
Raise a glass or two
to me
and you,
And have a fillet
with a nice
Beaujolais.
For a joy it was
to be,
to hear,
to see,
Have been,
lived free,
Breathed, walked,
and run,
And all that censored fun.
Depressions,
we savored
and wallowed in,
And despair,
Could not compare
to what is not,
Or pain endured,
for when it passes,
And fear,
for when it’s fled
once we are dead.
Life was good,
and after ain’t bad;
It was the dying we hated,
But when done,
was done.
So throw out the papers
And junk all the cars,
Rip up the photographs
and sell the manse,
All that is there
is done,
the memories but dust.
And us?
We’re nothing now,
That shall not fade
and pass,
along with tears
and sorrows
and gas.
So celebrate
and procreate
What is, was, will be,
for evermore:
An unseen adventure,
an open door,
The drawing of straws,
the roll of the dice
by relict gods
uncaring of odds.
And whatever you do
Before you’re dead
Tell ’em all
to throw out your papers
And spend all the cash
For there’s
nothing here
that lasts.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina and Duke Law School, James Garrison practiced law until returning to his first loves: writing and reading good literature. His novel, QL 4 (TouchPoint Press 2017), set in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, has won awards for literary and military fiction, and it was a finalist for the 2018 Montaigne Medal. His most recent novel, The Safecracker, a tongue-in-cheek legal thriller, was released in Ebook and paperback by TouchPoint Press on September 27, 2019. His creative nonfiction works and poems have appeared in online magazines and anthologies. Sheila-Na-Gig nominated ‘Lost: On the Staten Island Ferry’ for a 2018 Pushcart prize. jamesgarrison-author.com
