Classifieds (Poetry)

Under deaths, the truth is stark,
no frills, unfussy print declares
it's really so, and catches those
who didn't know, unawares.

Down below, another name
familiar, in memoriam,
that makes a year's swift turning seem
yesterday. Time's careless sum

adds them to a random list
and few who read could ever guess
the link between, significant,
such liaisons beyond death.

"Loving father, greatly missed..."
announced in close proximity
to "Mum remembered every day..."
clichéd in sincerity.

Subtle, this last irony,
like eyes across a crowded room,
they've found each other on the page,
share obituary gloom.

Tenuous connections fade
with memory, the lapse applied
selectively, life's past affairs
censored, strictly classified.