Sitting in the parlor
At an open casket wake
Watching the large swirling
Chaotic
Abundantly loving
Family I married into
Say goodbye
To Aunt Roberta

Mother
Aunt
Grandmother
Great-grandmother
Beloved
Beloved
Beloved
She was a light to my life
And a boot to my ass
Said my husband
One of her 10 nieces and nephews
Laughter
Stories recounted of fond memory
Her ingenuity
Strength of character
Devotedness to God
So beloved

But the woman I saw in the casket
Was not the woman I remember
Not even close
And a subversive thought arose:
What if it’s not her?
What if the funeral parlor messed up?
Perhaps they dressed Edna Doyle’s body
In Roberta’s clothes
And rings
And rosary
And somewhere in another parlor
People are laughing
And sniffling
And praying
Over Edna Doyle
Thinking that doesn’t look like her
But the body is dressed in Edna’s clothes
And rings
And rosary
So they accept it as gospel
After all, it’s only two little old ladies
They happened to mix up in the mortuary
They all look alike

I giggle to myself
Enjoying my private blasphemy
Imagining what would happen
If the family made a stink and
Demanded – loudly – to solve the mystery
Of Roberta not Roberta

But then I see a tear glisten
In the corner of Mary Catherine’s eye
And run down her cheek
For she so misses her grandmother
And I’m jolted out of my fantasy
Back into reality
To admit
I’m sad too.

For Roberta Rose McGuinness z”l
November 4, 2024