DEAD KEEPING, WAKE KEEPING, OR DEAD VIEWING.

Yes, viewing a dead body.
Shake the corpse!
Slap the cadaver!
Is “it” really dead?

Enemies want to confirm.
Creditors want to place liens.
Friends want to be sure, that
”It” is really dead.

Viewing the dead
A macabre human spectacle.
Forget the excuses.
Yes, excuses to say goodbye.

Good-bye, to one lost at sea?
Good-bye, to an incinerated one?
Good-bye, just another excuse to
Commiserate or condemn a corpse.

Glad, clever corpses
Have forsworn viewing by disappearing.
Doubters can keep searching
For the living dead.