The Cremation – a poem by Mark Tulin

The Cremation

As I watched my dog
being taken to the fire,
I closed my eyes
imagining his soul
being transformed,
his past ending, a future beginning,
a pile of remains on the hot oven floor.
His charred bones
sanctified by the burning flames,
a spirit floating out in space,
vulnerable in the vast universe,
infinite and everlasting.

Mark Tulin is a former therapist who lives in California.  He has a chapbook, Magical Yogis, and two upcoming books: Awkward Grace, and The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories. He’s been featured in Fiction on the Web, Ariel Chart, Leaves of Ink, among others.  His website is Crow On The Wire.