Hands folded over your chest in peace.
Eyes closed, face colored as if you're asleep.
Your heart, once so warm, no longer beats.
As your family enters, we rise to our feet.

An ocean of black stands over the floors.
Broken-hearted people stare at your corpse.
Sorry, I think corpse made it sound so much worse.
From now on, I'll try being delicate with words.

Your skin has turned ashen after only five days.
The shine in your eyes is now a pale, milky haze.
From fear, from tears, everyone stands as if dazed.
Then, suddenly, with a laugh, my black becomes bright rays.

Out of respect, I cover my mouth.
I know I should mourn, but all I think about
Is you, so lost but so sure of your route.
You kept cracking jokes, trying to figure me out.

Something you said made me laugh back then,
And now i'm thinking of smiles in a time and place when
Silence and Solemnity should be my only friends,
But my thoughts wander back to you in the end.

I think we were driving back home from the beach,
I, behind the wheel, you, quickly forgetting each
And every turn that we needed to reach.
"Next time, you navigate!" you yelled during my speech.

Other instances raced to the front of my mind,
And with each rose-tinted memory, even Death would find
Difficulty in not chuckling over your life.
A bright life, sadly shortened by a stranger's knife.

I'm sorry you had to leave this world first.
Really and truly, I thought I was the worst.
I just hope, had it been me in that hearse,
You'd be laughing so hard, your lungs would hurt.