Read
Read my words,
for when I die,
when the atoms in my brain
sighing with relief
release themselves wearily back
into the planet from which they evolved
Only the words will remain.
And when read,
my quiet, dead self
reconstituted by the unwasteful universe
into new forms,
new things, new people,
will respond,
and the breathing dust will sing.
Only in this way will I live on.
Read my words
that I might live forever.
Becky Sirrine is a divorced mother of five and grandmother of five who lives with her partner Earl, and her dog Albert, in Mesa, Arizona. She has been writing poetry since April 2013, and has previously had poems published in Psaltery and Lyre and Exponent II.