Would You Rather Have Been Buried At Sea?

Mom, would you have rather been buried at sea –

Rocks in your pockets.

Slow descent on the backs of dolphins?

Breathlessly aware.

Your journey to earth’s eternal embrace

Illuminated by Father Sun and Mother Moon

As they rock you in spirals of wavy silence

While

Each and every

Neon sunfish,

Sting ray,

Shark,

Angelfish,

Sardine,

And Clownfish

 Oh, so intentionally.

Oh, so tenderly.

Kiss you –

You, fearless.

You, trusting.

For you, there would be

No flesh and bone ashes

Scattered from a boat  –

Carried by the tears of those who still love you

As they flick you onto the tips of waves

And your homogonous lump

Of colorless cells fly apart –

And descend

Onto the tips of waves.

Your cells, burst by death, would hover-

Then surrender –

 To be inhaled by waves’ troughs

And then digested

By octopi, starfish and urchins.

Only to, at the end,

Be metabolized

Into the excrement of

Hagfish and dugong

And dissolve into fine grains of sand.

Mom, would you rather have been buried at sea –

Rocks in your pockets.

Slow descent on the backs of dolphins.

Breathlessly aware

Of Nature’s radiant and divine wisdom?