Ahma is Being Practical

By: Anh Hua

Ahma is ordering a cremation
Faced with a loved one dying
I guess she and I, most of us
Must face mortality in the face
Life is finite and old age reminds us
We live life as if it is forever continuous
But it is not, it does not promise forever
Just as love does not promise forever
You must live with the fact that there are
Only moments, blue or grey or lavender or yellow
Life is momentous, life is finite
I rang my lawyer for I want to leave an inheritance
Castles in Portugal, moss carpet made of gold
Today I walk to school and suddenly realized
One thousand one hundred and 11 priests
In protected black hoods walked with me
It cheered me in a haunted way
I knew sometimes my imagination walks too far
Ahead of the mass ahead of the herd
Yet this image feeling reminds me I was not alone
Priestly presence walk with me in life
Ahma is too young to plan and purchase cremation
But she was always the practical one
Always thinking budgets, ways to save
It dawn on me I haven’t bought my house yet
But now I have to buy my burial ground
Ahma says they are $60,000, cremation cheaper
Only $3,000. I spent over $5,000 to take Ahma
To France and Spain. I don’t like the thought of
Being burned though, I am weary of fire
I am more like Lady Charlotte
Dress me in a pretty gown
Laid me in a boat with flowers and perfume
Have the birds gather around me
And white angels chant their ways
Let me play my harp on a boat down
The river for my last moment
Create beautiful music, leave a legacy behind
I can not project into the future that far
I live from hummingbird to hummingbird
Drinking nectar only from each petal
Basking in the sun, I can’t be caged underground
Nor creamated to ashes, I fight to live
But it seems Ahma has succumb to the practical
My head hurts thinking what kind of business is this white beach dresses
That makes money from people’s ends
The news tells me end of this month
Watch out for the super blue moon in the sky
I don’t want to be buried for $60,000
I don’t want to be cremated for $3,000
I want to sit at the beach
Watching the blue super moon
Ahma you are giving up
Caving into the practical
Sometimes there are two full moons in one month
You forgot double happiness
The roundness of life, the roundness of it all