Momento Mori
Janet Kuypers
12/14/12
only knowing you from afar
every once in a while
i’d see you in the distance
when i’m driving down the street
once i saw you
outside my bedroom window
after the first snowfall
covered the land in a blanket of white,
then i saw you
walking outside alone
looking for your next meal
i think i saw you with your children
as i sat out on the balcony
of a father’s house —
i watched your beauty
in the distance,
but i didn’t watch you alone,
and after a while
someone said to me
that you looked peaceful,
but at another time
they would have shot
and killed you.
as i said,
i only knew you from afar
then one day
i was told
to go outside,
and that’s when i saw you
laying down among the trees,
never to walk away
from my home again
i’ve always only
seem you from afar,
and suddenly,
i could see your organs
shriveled and sunken in
after your skin
had pulled away
as you wasted away
to nothing
suddenly
i could see traces
from your capillaries,
and i could trace
your spine,
outline your rib cage
#
they call this
momento mori,
i thought,
so i grabbed my camera
to photograph you
because
even though,
in so many places,
i’ve seen you,
for some unknown reason,
i needed to
remember you this way.
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