Just A Piece of Paper

It's just a piece of paper yet it took my breath away. 

To open the envelope with it all there on display.

Your full name and date of birth,

Your Mom and Dad's names too.

Where we live, what you did and of course who you were married to.

Those words are normal, positive and fine.

But all too soon, they give way to what you left behind.

Death, Decedent,

Burial and Disposition,

Cemetery, Place of Death,

The time you took your last breath.

It's just a piece of paper, proper and complete.

A Certificate that represents, what just may be my ultimate defeat.

If only tears could erase the ink,

Turn back time to when life was complete.