Lines 1-2

Brouwer prefaces the poem "Last Request" with a line he attributes to his father speaking about his own burial: "A pine box for me. I mean it." Apparently, the older man would be content with a very simple, inexpensive interment, and he is adamant about it. The opening lines of the poem, then, present a stark contrast to the father's request. The speaker, or son, does not want a pine box but "a pyramid" when he dies, and he informs his "friends and family" about his request "for the record." Lines 1 and 2 provide the basis for a poem that becomes a list of instructions on how the speaker wants to be buried.

Lines 3-4

The pyramids of ancient Egypt represent a glorification of life after death, in particular the lives and deaths of pharaohs. Pyramids were built as monuments to house the tombs of the powerful...