A Poem By A Native American (Navajo) Man About Death

 Death

For E.P. Kazhe/Botella

The dread, however, was not of death’s agonies.
— Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, tr. by Will Petersen

it is prohibited to whisper the names of the dead,
as it encourages them to linger at the doorstep,
and she has already lingered, far too long

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