Funeral Soup

My grandma had a recipe;

If you’ve heard of wedding soup,

Well, this was something different.

She made it when someone kicked the bucket.

I knew when relatives were gone,

As 5AM brought garlic wafting

To my room. It wasn’t pleasant

And I guess that was the point.

Funeral soup was meant she said

To make us thankful. We joked

We’d rather have the coffin

Than the soup. I never realized

How much I appreciated the

Gesture until the day grandma

Herself took ill and died.

It’s impossible to say how

Sad I was that she was gone.

But I knew precisely what

She would have done.

I found an old pot of hers

Under the sink and went to work

With garlic and whatever I could find.

A half-hour past before I tasted it.

Something in the soup was missing.

I leaned closer and a tear fell in.

It tasted like it always had.