EULOGY OF A HYPHEN

I saw her internment, again

in the cemetery today,

withered remains crated

cradle to grave.

The granite read:

Born September 7, 1927

                 -

Died September 8, 1996

That’s all the marker said.

I thought about that all day.

Sixty-nine years of life,

summarized for all to see

by a single hyphenated line.

Truer than any biography.

end/michael bogar