i hope death

is like walking into an old familiar family home. 

i hope you see everyone you ever loved, 

seated on worn out and well loved couches.

laughter is the music echoing through the room. 

i hope the childhood dog comes bounding to your feet, 

favorite toy in mouth, 

excited to play catch. 

i hope the smell of your dad’s cologne 

smothers your senses 

when he gathers you into his arms 

too tightly. 

i hope death is warmth. 

a reunion to the life you had missed 

for a lifetime. 

i hope death is something worth dying for. 

i hope death is something worth having a life for, 

so that you can sit on that fading floral couch between your grandmother and aunts, 

and catch them up on the 60 years they had missed. 

i hope death is kind. 

i hope death let’s them smile, knowingly, but they let you tell them everything anyways. 

i hope death let’s me live in my childhood home, 

so i can wander creaky floors 

and stare out huge windows 

at forests cascading down the hill. 

i hope the record player 

has all my dad’s favorites on repeat. 

i hope death is a welcome home. 

i hope death is a “job well done.”