The rabbi says,
“His death tells us:
Beware the jolt,
the trap door.
Beware the moment
no one knows
until it comes.”
Leaves churn in the heat.
Women beat their breasts and wail.
He is not the man in the eulogy.
His life never knew that much joy.
His family never loved him well.
When the kaddish begins
a hidden jay
flashes over the burial tent,
squawks three times three
and joins the blue haze.