Duty or Love

I did my duty today - but not without incident. Whenever we discuss about me, it's always WITH INCIDENT.
I had to go, it was expected of me - but I had work. As usual, I would squeeze time in to do my duty then scoot off to work. I was given compassionate leave, but it was impossible to leave my work, to hang around.
So, when I arrived at the wake, I did what everyone had to do - pray for the soul of the dead. Then one of them, decided to sit next to me, and asked about whether I'll be there the next few days. Well, to be honest - when a person is still breathing, that's when our presence is important. When he's dead, what exactly am I supposed to do? Bring him back to life?
And so she had a lecture of her life - long time coming too. I am not a hypocritical person - I feel sad not for the those left behind, but for him who died a lonely man. I stay away because I refuse to put myself in a position where I had to focus on insincere people who are merely there for the show.
I had buried a man, a lonely man, who didn't a family, let alone a proper roof over his head. He had cancer, I put him in a hospice, visited him every day, fed him, changed him and carried his ashes to be scattered. I watched a young woman die, leaving a demented mother not understanding why her daughters' body is cold.
I'm not immune to grief - I believe in life. That's my philosophy - love when they are still around, so that you know, you've a pocketful of memories to keep.