Does death deprive?

Despite the fact
that death has swallowed up
and ta’en away
to dust
all those who raised me into love
of life
as well as others of my family
and friends,
I am not dispossessed, as some would claim,
of all ability to set
before my eyes their faces
and their smiles
or forever sore bereft of glee.

For all I have to do
to behold them once again
is look upon the photographs
I have of them
in which these things are captured well
for anyone to see.
.
And also I can conjure them
to come to me and my mind’s eye
whenever I
make efforts then to bid them rise
from where they’re stored
so vividly,
full fleshed, untarnished in my memory

And so while I admit there’s sadness at
their rough departure from this world,
I know I'm not entirely deprived
of the elating transports and the cheer
that seeing visages of people now
deceased
who, when I turned my gaze
to them
while they were yet alive,
would bring me joy