death

the father of a dear friend of mine
just passed away yesterday.
i don’t know what to react to this.
in fact, i don’t know how to properly
react to any news of death, either.
one is arrested with a sudden paralysing feeling.
as if time stopped moving, and everything suddenly 
pales in comparison.
as if each movement ceases to mean anything.
you see it in movies, in film, in the news, everyday
how many? only one? two? oh not a big figure.
how disensitized we have become
to feel towards the unliving
a certain somnambulism
a stupor that continues to gape at life
to grasp to seize greedily
what it has to offer us
when the earth is always ready
to receive us.