Resurrection

Traveling through Europe
As we were doing
Turned out to be
A lot more expensive
Than I originally figured
It would be.
I think food alone
Ran close to
$150 per day
For the three of us.
We definitely weren’t
Trying to do Europe
On the $10 a day plan,
But we weren’t
Being extravagant either.
I had taken along
What I reasoned
Would be enough
Money for our expenses,
But by the time
We reached Rome,
We had spent it all.
When I tried to get
A cash advance
Against the credit card
I took with me,
It was refused.
When I contacted
The credit card company
To find out why,
I was told that I had deceased
So my account
Had been canceled.
What followed was
A very weird conversation
With me arguing
That I was alive and kicking,
And them telling me
That I was officially dead.
What had happened
Was that I sent them
A copy of my wife’s
Death certificate,
And some diligent
Backroom clerk
Dutifully recorded
The death as being mine,
And not Cecilia’s.
It took three days
Of exasperatingly comical
But determined effort
To have me
Officially resurrected,
And Cecilia
Properly buried
So that I could get
The advance I needed.