carpe diem

the grave of a man named Christian

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as a boy, Christian went to school
and every day, he'd pass a cemetery
and he'd feel bad
about all the people who lived and died
or didn't get the chance to live at all,
and he asked his mother why people had to die;
she had no answer.

as a young adult, he went to college
and every day, he'd pass a cemetery
and he'd wonder
about all the lives of all the people who were no longer living,
and he'd study the headstone of a woman named Joann,
whose stone simply said "she was saved"
and he asked himself what that meant;
he had no answer.

as a man, he went to work
and every day, he'd pass a cemetery
and he'd envy all the people in it,
jealous of all the people whose lives ended slowly or abruptly
because he finally understood that Joann wasn't saved by God,
she was saved in the sense that she was no longer living;
and he asked God if he was even there;
he got no answer.

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as a girl, she went to school
and every day, she'd pass a cemetery
and ask her mommy
about the grave of a man named Christian,
and how he died with a name like that.

- ch