Homecoming

My way of viewing death, of human and other animals, as temporary as living is.

Homecoming (for Nicole and Laura)

They will forever find us again.
In their new forms.
They will come to us in dreams,
just to tell us they love us.
They will show up in new ways 
and remind us of our shared history 
through their words coming out 
from our mouths, and a song on the radio
that carries a message from them.
We will catch glimpses of their last
faces in our own mirror sometimes.
Some will reappear in our life 
with new colors and new coats,
they will lean against us,
sit again with their head upon our laps,
lick us with new tongues,
lounge across another laptop keyboard,
or knock over a vase of flowers.
We share these borrowed forms
with them, only for so long,
before we transition, 
and we always reunite.
The dead are never lost,
they’re simply not here for a time.
They are not lost, 
they are just elsewhere for a bit,
and they will be found by us or find us.

We will always bring ours back home.

Illustration By Darker Days

Art By Haenuli