On my mother's plaque I wrote

"with loved ones forever."

I tried to be charitable with my father's.

I wrote nothing.

"beyond tears, another angel sings,"

was the best I could do for my boy,

the artiste, the singer.

"I dreamt of Mum again," he would say,

"She is with the Virgin Mary.

She says, I am lonely. Please come.' "

I said, "Jay, how can she be lonely

if she's with the Virgin Mary?"

and sometimes, when he asked

if he would go to Heaven,

what could I say?

Heaven holds a place,

even for drag queens.