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The Question Posed by a Client from the Hospital

by Abby Caplin

What do you really think happens? she asks.

Do you say you believe afterlife is possible

because you truly believe

we exist after death, or

because it's merely

possible?

She continues,

When I tell you I don't know what happens,

I really don't know,

not because "I don't know" means

I sort of do know

and I'm just saying it.

Are you hinting

you believe deep

down you

know?

I pause to think.

Or, she persists in my silence,

maybe we just fade to black

like in a movie?

I'm not hinting

that I know, I say.

Maybe we

fade to black.