Book of the Dead 5

The dead have always had more to say
To me than the living.
They do not stutter
Or say “um.”
They do not approach their subject
At an angle.
Or hide it in figures of speech.
Nor do they screw up facial expressions
To convey empathy.
The dead have no empathy.

They say,
“Death has no mercy.”
And
“The dead care less for the living
Than the living care for the dead.”

It is just like how we measure
All of the events of our life differently
Than those things which happened
Before we were born.

Before my day, there were only stories.