8-11-09

                                             

Death knocked upon my door again,

He came to call last night.

We sat on the porch to have a chat

And watch the pink twilight.

“Your number’s up,” he said to me;

“But I’ve come to make a deal.

Pick another to take your place

And your life I will not steal.”

I shook my head and smiled bright.

“We’ve been through this before.

If you say that it’s my time to go

I need to hear no more.”

“Ah, but think of those who love you!”

He replied with innocence.

“How will they feel to visit you

Behind a fortress fence?”

I closed my eyes and took a breath,

He knew just where to aim.

“You took them all, you know you did

That much is still the same.

I would not choose another soul

With people who will mourn.

When I’ve nothing left to hold me here

Besides your hateful scorn.”

Holding up a bony finger

As if to prove a point

I listened for his next advance

And rubbed my achy joint.

“But it’s pain I’ve brought this time around.

Your end will not be nice.

You’ll suffer so and die alone

Are you sure you won’t think twice?”

By now the moon was rising

And I watched the darkened sky

As I thought of those, both friend and foe

That I could send to die.

“I do not fear the pain you’ll bring

I’ve hurt like hell for years.

We all die alone no matter what

I’ll not shed any tears.”

He knew he had been beaten,

He had no chips to throw.

This was a game we played so much,

He knew how it would go.

“No one to mourn, no mind my scorn

And you do not fear my pain.

It seems that life has left you here

To rot or go insane.

So I’ll go away and leave you be

But I’ll be back next fall.

You’ve won this round and the one before

But you cannot win them all.”

I watched him go and wondered how

A man with so much power

Could miss so much in all we said

In that brief and wasted hour.

It wasn’t life that left me there

In my shack by river’s end.

It was Death himself who walked away

When I needed most a friend.