PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

1

Arrange my funeral according to

the joy of the the Orthodox Faith, the Common Salvation

which is and shall be our souls' chief exultation,

among the Orthodox Church, Christ's great congregation;

and the comfort of the ancient spirituality:

beyond the reach of human perfidy (that has long appalled)

above and beyond this lost world's mockery.

To that Faith, witnessed in my poetry;

the Faith that has informed my conversation.

With this, please console my loved ones; I ask of you.

2

That narrow plot of grass in the landscape of that

rural cemetery will be sufficient.   On a flat plate or

headstone, place the image of the three-barred cross, 

that I have revered since childhood, sign of assured Salvation;

then my appellation---

Starward---

and then below that, my mundane name

(which the world sought so often to shame;

prejudice and prudery make a miserable mix)

and dates of my entrance and exit.

That carcass beneath the sod, by death undone,

will not in any way be me;

freed of all this earthly existence's afflictions,

my soul will soar

starward to the Kingdom of God's Son,

where I have already been seated,

even before my pilgrimage has completed.

This is my very final wish---

this last request (here, again, repeated)---

signed with electronic signature, below

and affixed below it, my customary mark:

Starward, an Orthodox Christian

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