A Simple Will

A graveyard in Iceland.

A Simple Will

“I shall hardly know myself. It will be dark…”

-Sylvia Plath

I do not want a sarcophagus, I want a plain box

Something simple like pine or maple

With a hand-carved cross on top.

Since I hate wearing one in life, don’t put me in a suit.

Give me something I wear all time

Jeans and t-shirt will do.

If it’s allowed (I don’t know the law), forgo the cement vault

Put my coffin straight into the ground

Let the earth be my floor and walls.

Don’t overload me with a bunch of things that I had.

Give me a family picture, Bible,

And a Rosary made by my dad.

Don’t even consider cremation for a minute

I won’t be scattered or put on a hearth.

I love this earth and I want to lie in it.

            (In one piece.)

Give any money I might have to my dad and my mom

If they’re gone, a fourth to each sister

And the rest to the Church, my true home.

Play Softly and Tenderly at my funeral, please

Then gather together, outside if good weather,

Share a meal, sit back, be at ease.

Once you bury me and I begin to rot in my hole

I have but one final request:

Remember me and pray for my soul.

8/1/25