Just Leave Me Be Right Here

The Dog Tag from where I lay

This is my chosen place

I get the good winter sun

This was not an accident

And it is not a crime scene

Please to leave me be

I do not bother anyone

The crows are done with me

And now I bleach my bones

Let me be alone with my peace

This place is not on the map

I came here on my own

I mean to stay for good

Don’t need an investigation

Don’t want no death certificate

Don’t got any next of kin

Go away, I’m busy listening

I am not even trespassing

My taxes are all paid up for good

This stuff is biodegradable

I don’t make any noise

I came here on my own

No one else is responsible

I have no other home

This is where I want to be

Got no affairs to settle

The snow don’t bother me

I don’t light no fires

And I’m not camping here

Smile back at me

Look into my empty sockets

Do not bury me

Leave this note upon me

Turn my skull to the light

This is how I want to fade

Go on and get away now
And please just leave me be

My Last Wishes

No one should use any method on me that artificially maintains my life

If I am sure to die and there is no real remedy, let me go without regrets

I wish that my organs be donated should they be of use to anyone else, but not for profit

I do not wish that I should ever travel to any funeral home

I reject being embalmed and will have no one pay for any commercial services

Keep the undertakers and the preachers strictly away from my passing

I ask that I have no coffin but merely a simple, degradable piece of cloth

In fact, a warm and trusted old wool blanket will suit my needs quite well

I accept no spot within a cemetery but prefer anonymity in some open land

Just keep me far away from the traffic’s poisonous roar

I request that no strangers speak over me unless no one else knows me there

I specifically deny that preachers, ministers or priests use me as their prop

If you can find it, you might read The Beckoning Void very quietly

A little gentle music would be nice, if anyone there can play

I would like a shallow burial such that I might help nourish the good earth

Please plant some native species directly over my unmarked grave

If times are bad or I am poor, simply leave me outside in my work clothes

Feed me to the crows, rodents and insects and let my bones bleach out in peace

Let me face the Winter sun should I perish in those snowy mountains I loved so very much

Leave me somewhere that is unvisited and unlikely to be disturbed

My writings are all that I have of any personal value

Do with them what you will

Give my stuff to my wife, family, relatives and friends in order should they want it

Then donate it all to charity, recycle it and, finally, throw away anything else that is left