Unearthly

It often happened at dinner.

The whistling
then came the blast
followed by an expulsion of breath
and knowing that I have been spared –
but only just

While somewhere
amid cries and choking clouds of smokes
there was a scrambling
a barehanded digging
of pulling out debris
what remained of a sister,
a brother, a grandmother

I wasn’t at all surprised
when father said
fate is what is beyond man’s control

In every book
everyone has a chapter
we reincarnate,
we come back again
we are all characters
entertaining God

But then I wonder
if God was smiling or sobbing
when our breath
was rinsed by death
while we entertain.