I hope your life is picked up by careful hands

The body was what was missing.

Dead, I presume. 

I mean, who would leave 

clothes shoes purses electronics furniture pots pans jewelry watches, office supplies half-finished sewing projects and pictures frames with pictures still in them

unless they had left earth?

I open a pocket watch to see if it still works. 

And then I set it beside a worn locket with a picture of a woman inside. 

I wonder who decided what stays and what was donated. 

How they looked at a life and said

all these clothes shoes purses electronics furniture pots pans jewelry watches, office supplies half-finished sewing projects and pictures frames with pictures still in them will be discarded 

along with the rosaries and pearls. 

I hold the remnants of this life in my hands before a price tag gets slapped onto a memory and sold to a stranger who  will collect these items without inheriting the grief.