The following poem has been re-printed from the Ancient Paths archives. It originally appeared in Issue 5 (Fall 2000).
A Sudden Death in the House by Jene Erick Beardsley
How thoughtless of you to get up on that morning--unsteady In bathrobe and slippers, with toothbrush and washcloth ready, Breakfast frying in the kitchen, son leaving for work--merely To die, the day in your absence resuming so queerly. Lord! how you upset our plans for that day, how you keep, Now, us guessing the reason you rose just to go back to sleep. This brief but formal complaint is but love in disguise: May you who rose to die have died to rise.