first funeral

A boy of seven, equal parts
 confidence and unsureness,
 walking behind his siblings
 and his parents,
 headed towards a cemetery.

And the world is alive with green
 and his brother and sister
 alive with rancor,
 but his parents seem to be 
 some other place,
 some place much grayer, like
 a hospital room, with their
 quiet voices, and distant eyes.

And the tie around his neck 
 is vexing, he keeps pulling at it;
 walking what seems like miles until
 they get to a larger group of
 dressed-up people.

And so, now, this is death:
 dressed up people by a beautiful lake,
 his brother and sister jostling each other,
 and his own thoughts on what it would be like

 to be on the bridge of the Enterprise

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