A Second Leaving

Of my Facebook friends
Nine so far are now dead.
Their pictures remain.
I could delete them,
But I don’t.
I’ve been to many old cemeteries.
They intrigue me
So serene and timeless.
And I read the stones.
The names and dates.
I try to imagine them.
As they were, a four year
Old girl in 1820, a captain
Who served with Grant,
Mother 1644-1699.
But when I look at the older
Stones, the sandstone ones,
They’re unreadable.
Flaked and chipped and smoothed.
The wind has scattered the name
Of whoever lies underneath.
They’ve weathered to a second death,
An ultimate erasure.
I don’t think I’ll delete my Facebook friends.
A single death is enough.

Ted Taylor recently retired from teaching English at Lehman College. He has been published in Chronogram, The Ledge, and the Atlanta Review. He lives in Peekskill, NY.