‘Page 2B’

By Ray Finch

In our paper, on page 2B

With the daily activities

Are listed obituaries;

Hamlet’s eternal inquiry

Finally answered for these.

Not the day’s global events

Affairs of kings and presidents

Wars and crimes or accidents;

here is news you won’t forget

One brief life is all we get.

Sometimes a photo, always a date

The arrival and departure gate

Bare facts that outline our fate;

No need to elaborate

Death does not discriminate.

Still we turn to sports and want ads

Comics, weather and crossword instead;

Superficial thoughts distracted

To dispel this unwanted dread

That soon we’ll join the forgotten dead.

– Ray Finch lives in Lawrence and is assistant to the director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at Kansas University.