//a memory//

On the day you breathe your last
your name will be announced in a microphone
you will be a face on WhatsApp family and alumni groups, the ones you never bothered to read
as night approaches the youth of the locality will stream into your home
stopping at Pi Nghaki’s for Orbit and Waiwai to mix with the midnight bowl of sawhchiar
Your mom will fall across you as she cries
Your dad will shed a few tears as he pats your head
Your sister would wonder where you are going
a few will fall asleep a few will laugh at those who fell asleep
the YMA president will speak on the few good things you have done
and morning will come the first light of dawn bringing a greater cry than was heard through the night
the last ray of sunshine before you are buried beneath cold earth
on this day you will be a 2 second whatsapp status a 15 second video on Insta story
as your accomplices scan their galleries for the last picture they have of you
you will be a heavily worded facebook status
your few seconds of glory lasting for a day
and then earth will cover what was formed of earth
a day will pass the status, the stories, the words
will be replaced by new faces, new roads, new words
the world will incessantly go on
a month later your family will remember
a year later they’ll paste you on a paper
two years later you’ll get a shining marble stone
on Christmas your best friend would post on your profile
how she misses the last Christmas you spent together
3 years will pass and you will be a memory
a precious memory
but a memory that like any other is prone to be forgotten
old pictures, new tunes, familiar faces
might bring familiar memories to loved ones
but a memory is but a memory no
matter how precious
the only mind that would not forget you
as ages pass would be the one
who saw death for you
so what good is it if you build the best memories with the best people
if you are not worthy to be a lasting memory
for the one who’s supposed to be welcoming you to your eternal home?