Twenty-One Pounds
Twenty-one pounds
The figures stand out starkly
At the bottom of the column
Of other pounds and pence
An amount within an invoice
An account now rendered
Simple unadorned numbers
Clear in black and white
Just before the grand total
Twenty-one pounds
VAT inclusive
The final line of reckoning
The fee for services rendered
The burning of the body
Cremation of his small remains
Somewhere taken care of
That we shall never see
Twenty-one pounds
Seems not near enough
To reflect his energy
Nor what he meant to us
But that’s all there is of death
The summary of a struggle
A last and final line of life
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