His last breath took him by surprise.

Until its vapour dissipated in

the ragged inhalations of his sisters,

beginnings to convert his death into ululation;

until then, he had thought that he would come.

Hard to say what happened next:

his astonished body wrapped and sealed,

cooling and settling in the garden tomb,

until he wondered how, in death, he could still hear

his sisters, his friends, his name.

Until light struck him like the dawn

as though the world still turned

as God intended, night before day,

he had thought it was too late.