What the Obituary Says

The obituary says

I lived on Dale Street

I never lived on Dale Street

I don’t even know--

Where’s Dale Street?

Does anybody know?
Does anybody know where Dale Street is?

Apparently I lived there, but…

But

I don’t remember that

I don’t--

And it’s not because I’m dead

I remember other things

Important things

Things that aren’t important

Things I should have forgotten

A long time ago

Things like--

I remember the first time

My mother let me put cinnamon

In my milk

Before bed

That’s not fabricated

That’s not a, a, made-up, uh--

That’s real

And other things

Might be the victim

Of the natural habit

Of memory

I’m sure I forgot things when I was alive

And there’s no reason to think

Those things should come back to me

Just because I’m dead

Dead doesn’t mean all-knowing

We don’t know what dead means

Because none of us

Have ever been dead before

At least I haven’t

It’s like a waiting room

But one you don’t mind

Waiting in

And to me, that sounds like Purgatory

But I was brought up to believe

You wouldn’t be happy in Purgatory

And I feel just fine here, so…

The obituary said I liked golf

I played once

There are pictures of me playing

That one time

And they probably found those pictures

And thought--

Oh look, he loved to golf

Insane

How you try to piece together

Something as slippery

And magnificent as a life

With photos

And anecdotes

From people who only ever knew

A third of you

Because you only ever knew

Half of yourself

If I could have written

My own obituary--

And I imagine

Some people do, uh--

If I could have written it

I would have said something pithy

Like--

He was here and he died

And it was....

It was…

No, wait, never mind

I would have said--

He loved his mother

She gave him milk before bed

And made sure it was warm

And sometimes

There was cinnamon in it

And that was lovely

She was lovel

He was never…

He was never as lovely

As she was

But he tried

That’s what I would say

It doesn’t begin to, to, uh--

Summarize

My life

But--

It says everything

I want to say