I Want You to Be Whole

By Alicia Khoo

“When I die, I want your hands on my eyes,”
Pablo Neruda, “Sonnet 89”

When I die, I want your hands on my eyes
and the green dress picked up at the drycleaners
Get rid of the Toyota and finally buy that Porsche
(there’s enough money left to last us two generations)
Break into the zoo and steal an eagle
Go climb a mountain, dig a hole
and seal my ashes in a volcanic rim.
Whisper a secret
so it will always be safe with me.
Now set the eagle free,
and find a better wife than I ever was,
or ever could be.