I'll See You When I Get There

I saw a tombstone that simply read
"I'll see you when you get here"

No dates, no exerts from his or her life
Not even the common, In loving memory of

Just, "I'll see you when you get here"
It made me think that the family hadn't had the money
For the more inscriptions
So, I asked the graveyard attendant
And he said "No thats all He wanted was"
"I'll see you when you get here"

Every one of us have had someone pass away
Every single one of us
Whether it be a parent, uncle, aunt friend or so on

Death is one of those things in life that just happens
Death is the ying to life's yang
Death is an inevitable part of being born
And sadly everything dies that lives
Trees, Animals, absolutely everything

So when my grandfather passed
All I could think of was the inscription on the
Man without a name tombstone
And I pictured him saying to me
"I'll see you when you get here"

Now its been over a year since I've seen my grandfather
In the flesh
And the memory of his passing
Truly put me to the test
I mean I was a mess
For months that passed
His passing
Passed my mind
And it constantly reminded me of that time

And there were days I would try to erase it
Other then trying to embrace it
And despite the fact that it was in the back of my mind
I tried not to face it

And it worked sometimes
But other times I felt that I was doing myself
An injustice
But now it feels good to discuss this
And this is the first time I've put it in poem form
So for me this is a bit out of the norm

But for me its time to clean out my closet
And this was on the top shelf
Even though it was behind Ex-girlfriend number 2 through 22
And there were also other things that I placed in front of it
Because deep down I knew that I didn't want to confront it
But the day would come when I knew that I'd want it

Closure...

But the only way to get closure is through exposure
And the only way to get to exposure is through acceptance
And acceptance lyes right behind reality
And reality is stands hand in hand with truth

And truth we all know cant tell a lie
So without lying
And denying
The feelings that I'm feeling
I'm feeling the need to finally start healing

Not to replace the piece of my heart that is missing
But simply acknowledge that it is missing
Not that I'm going to stop wishing that the piece returns to me
But now I know that I have to let it be
So maybe tomorrow after I've known that I've released this stress
I'll have a better view of me

So now when I think about my grandfather passing
And I lift my hands to the air

I'll recite something from a man I didn't even know
And say

Pop-Pop

I'll see you when I get there

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In Loving memory of my grand father:
The Best Man I've Ever Known

James Isom