The Subliminal Death Pose

We bare before the abyss
with broken hearts and empty vessels
and across the veil
pale with reflections of mirror images
solemn and without wit.
Accepting sympathies
with thousands of hollow ‘thank yous’
that never seem to cut into the core
of how to say goodbye.

Bound intimately
by the preconditions
of the most awkward of social affairs
Nobody tells us why.
“Out of respect.”
Respect to whom?
Have we as individuals
with our technologies and philosophies
our religions and the lack thereof
still succumbed to the plagues of civil cohesion
bound by gossamer threads of social behavior.
Or have we nothing else to say?