And even though
I don’t care to have
certain conversations
with people
I’ll never see again
I couldn’t help
but listen
to how he explained
the ceremony
of life
as a symbol
for souls
that take a vow
of poverty
by making
the human body
their home
in a tone of voice
that bubbled up
from what
I imagined to be
the ground, sea-shell
paved, floor of his being
where it was dark
like a long silence crying out
for the sacred presence
of sound that made me feel as if
I were in two places at once:
the graveyard and heaven
especially when he
concluded by saying,
and if you abolish
the symbol
then you tear down
the whole house.