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“We Regret to Inform You of a Funeral Cancellation” a poem by Rob MacWolf (read by Ta'kom Ironhoof)
Tonight we present a poem by Rob MacWolf, who doesn’t seem to be dead just yet. You can find more of his work in In The Light of the Dawn by the Furry Historical Fiction Society, or at his SoFurry gallery.
Read by Ta’kom Ironhoof, the Equine Charmer.
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Transcript
You’re listening to The Ghost of Dog on The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:Tonight we present a poem by Rob MacWolf,
Speaker:who doesn’t seem to be dead just yet.
Speaker:You can find more of his work
Speaker:in In The Light of the Dawn
Speaker:by the Furry Historical Fiction Society,
Speaker:or at his SoFurry gallery.
Speaker:Read by Ta’kom Ironhoof,
Speaker:the Equine Charmer.
Speaker:A gravestone may be a comfort:
Speaker:as a monument to the memory of the departed, an assertion that they were cared for,
Speaker:an aspiration, perhaps,
Speaker:to some manner of life eternal or
Speaker:resurrection. An anonymous gravestone is unsettling:
Speaker:in order for such a thing to exist something, in that process, must not have gone
Speaker:as it was supposed to.
Speaker:The same may be said
Speaker:of an empty grave.
Speaker:Resurrection of
Speaker:the dead, like a gravestone,
Speaker:may cease to be a comforting thought
Speaker:when it ceases to go
Speaker:as we have expected.
Speaker:Please enjoy “We Regret to Inform You
Speaker:of a Funeral Cancellation”, a poem by Rob MacWolf
Speaker:Well a couple mourners gathered,
Speaker:and a bunch more came to stare.
Speaker:Course all the casual killers came,
Speaker:who'd left him lying there.
Speaker:They bought a discount casket
Speaker:and a requiem was said
Speaker:For the funeral was scheduled,
Speaker:for burying the dead.
Speaker:Well the preacher called for piety and prayers for the deceased
Speaker:Till the gravedigger came running,
Speaker:for to interrupt the priest.
Speaker:Then the undertaker turned,
Speaker:his face all ashes, and he said
Speaker:"Afraid the funeral's canceled.
Speaker:He ain't dead." Well we hurried to the graveyard.
Speaker:This was probably joyous news.
Speaker:But the funeral party weren't so much 'joyous' as
Speaker:'confused.' The preacher led the way and tried to pray away the dread.
Speaker:The funeral was canceled.
Speaker:He ain't dead. The grave was standing open,
Speaker:the casket there beside
Speaker:But both entirely empty,
Speaker:not a single thing inside.
Speaker:Must've climbed out of the coffin,
Speaker:left a mystery there instead:
Speaker:The funeral was canceled.
Speaker:He aint dead. "I saw him, fer a moment,"
Speaker:the gravedigger confessed "A-striding toward the hilltops, makin west,
Speaker:or west-northwest. He didn't give no answer,
Speaker:he just turned and shook his head.
Speaker:S'when I knew the funeral's canceled.
Speaker:He ain't dead." Now the undertaker's furious.
Speaker:Preacher looks like he might cry.
Speaker:But the widow-woman's risen,
Speaker:with a fire in her eye.
Speaker:She's dropped her veil and walked away, and not a word she said,
Speaker:But "Go home, funeral's canceled.
Speaker:He ain't dead." Well I guess you've heard of stories of this sort of thing before. Don't
Speaker:they still retain the relics of the shroud St. Lazarus wore?
Speaker:There's Balder, and there's Orpheus:
Speaker:went where live souls fear to tread,
Speaker:They had their funerals canceled.
Speaker:They weren't dead.
Speaker:I remember last I saw him, on the gallows, in the dust.
Speaker:A calm was on the crossroads
Speaker:where we do the things we must.
Speaker:And we all knew he was innocent, no crimes upon his head,
Speaker:But his funeral was ready.
Speaker:So we made sure he was dead.
Speaker:I suppose he's out there somewhere.
Speaker:Maybe I'll go find him now.
Speaker:I promise when I see him I'll be sure to ask him how,
Speaker:Whether it's a curse or blessing,
Speaker:that his death to us has spread,
Speaker:And what it is that moves a man when life is fully fled...
Speaker:Just like Madeline in the Garden:
Speaker:"Touch me not," as someone said.
Speaker:Now you go cancel my funeral. I ain't
Speaker:dead. This was “We Regret to Inform You of a Funeral Cancellation”
Speaker:by Rob MacWolf, read for you by Ta’kom Ironhoof, the
