how many of my facebook friends are dead?

How many of my Facebook friends are dead?

How many of my Facebook friends are dead?
I haven’t counted lately, but I figure
Since last September, when I checked on Fred,
The number has undoubtedly grown bigger.

If I review my feed for news of those
Who have not lately liked, or shared, or posted, 
Will I find more who’ve gone to their repose,
And learn I have been literally ghosted?

The app, with mindless assiduity,
Announces birthdays, urging me to send
Best wishes on the anniversary
Of every single dead or living friend,

But never thinks to mark the day of death
With a more sober note of consolation
For loss of dear ones now bereft of breath,
The thinning cohort of my generation.

Though the reminder’s of some use to me, 
I needs must pause before I rush ahead:
May memory guard me from the gaucherie
Of sending birthday greetings to the dead.


                                      Tom Lips. August 28, 2026