Dr. Sward in his own words

Podiatrist father to son. Dr. Sward of the title in his own words. Monologue of a podiatrist.


LIFE IS ITS OWN AFTERLIFE

“Enough already. Mourn,
mourn all you want…
What good will it do?
Truth is, I feel great, son. Never better!

“So what if I’m invisible?
So what if I’m dead?
You don’t need a body to be a mensch,
a man of substance.
Ach, but with a body at least
you’ve got some privacy.
Without a body you can’t conceal anything.

“There’s more, son,
and bad news for you.
This will surprise you—
when you die one of the first questions God asks is,
‘Did you marry?’
Turns out after God created the world, the rest of the time
He spent making marriages.
So a couple, when they meet, it’s bashert,
‘it was meant to be.’
That’s so… that’s how
together they fulfill their destiny.
But divorce, that they don’t allow.
So you won’t be coming.

"But thank God
for what you’ve got.
What are you missing? Not much. There is no afterlife,
not really.
That’s right, son.
Life is its own afterlife.”

--
from God is in the Cracks, Black Moss Press, 2006. See also Poetry Flash, Number 298, Fall 2006.