I Lazarus

What could I make of the grass

But a gate to the skies
Looking up
Clouds floating by
Like the shapes of the dead ones
As radiant as angels
And when I opened the earth
Their tombs were all empty
My mother and father
The first to speak
Come here son
O how we missed you
All I could do was weep


— Stephen Rybicki (1941-2022), poet and librarian, from Commonweal magazine.