Each year a pension fund in England reminds me of my mortality.
Certificate of existence
Robin Ford, December 2018
Dear Mr Ford, the fund’s trustees
Require that members overseas
Send them a form that’s certified
To say that they have not yet died.
So with this letter you will find
A form, and if you’d be so kind,
Please fill it in; find someone fit
- Check out the list - to witness it.
Return the form when it is done,
By email, post, or fax (just one).
We’ll keep your form on record here
Until the same time comes next year,
When we will send a form once more
For you to fill, much as before,
This process we’ll repeat until
You are no longer here to fill
The form that asks “do you exist”
For you’ve dissolved into the mist.
