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51 Instructions for my sons: the top button needs to be fastened and the collar flat, the ends of your tie the appropriate length. You need a belt, socks that match. You’re wearing a suit and this is a visitation and you are here to offer condolences, comfort to your friend, a grandson, his mother, a daughter. Do not stand slack, hands jammed in your jacket, and in loud company ask: What good? Unimaginable, the end of running, and love and what comes after. The wet engine of the heart thumping in its box can stop. A terrible wake overflows its channel; a stain eclipses mind’s star, and out runs the current in an old body. The grieving assemble, sign our names and sigh. We look to you standing in corner sunlight, showing us all how to go on living. ...

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