Death

It’s obviously macabre to keep talking about death.

Oh! There you go, I’m at it again!

Why have I become so preoccupied with death?

Because I’ve just reached three score years and ten.

And that's supposed to be life's ration you know.

I shouldn't expect to get very much more.

I should really start getting organised,

As I slowly approach death's dark door.

I just don’t know what’s waiting for me,

And I'm not allowed to take a prior look.

It’ll be a very chastening experience,

Like turning a page of a completely new book.

Will it be a clean sheet, or will it be marked,

With the sins of my former time?

Will I be forced to relive them all,

Or will I move into a happier clime?

Will I be greeted with a clarion call,

In a vast auditorium full of bright light?

Or will I be awakened by death’s dark drum,

As on another route I might have to alight?

Will all my friends and relatives be there,

When I take up my heavenly berth?

They'll be in a different form, because,

Their bodies have blended into the earth!

But I’ll know them by the size of their souls.

Although mine will be somewhat scarred.

I wouldn’t be surprised, when I get to the gates,

If I find that, to me, they’ve been barred.

For my life has been filled with sin after sin.

I’ve broken every rule in the book.

For me there’s little chance of redemption.

I’ll be told to go away and sling my hook!

I know that mum and dad will intercede,

And my brothers may put in a plea.

My wife of course can’t say a word.

Because she’s unlikely to get there before me!

And there’s not much point in saying sorry,

I should have said that so long ago.

In fact I shouldn’t have committed those sins.

And I’m likely to get the old ‘quid pro quo’.

Are we reassigned to earth in a very different form,

As an insect or a sub species of some kind?

And will we be reprogrammed in some special way,

To make sure that we don’t really mind?

One thing is for sure there’s a presence out there.

I feel it close at an introspective time.

It chides me when I do any little thing wrong.

I’m not saying this to make the verse rhyme.

I know that there’s a power in the universe

And that many words have been written in the sand.

We haven’t arrived accidentally on earth.

This colossal exercise has been very well planned.

I must have been put here for a purpose.

But it’s a purpose that I don’t understand

Like being asked to man a spacecraft

Without an instruction book in my hand.

So I’ve played it by ear almost all of my life,

Because it isn’t all over just yet.

There’s still the odd game plan mapped out for me.

Can you pass them over before I forget!

Look, I’ve levelled with you and told it straight.

It hasn’t come out of the blue.

Is there someone out there who can give me advice,

And tell me just what to do?

I don’t want to get there unprepared do you see?

I’ve got to put up a reasonable show.

I don’t want a heavenly thumb to be turned down.

Or to be told that I’ve got nowhere to go.

Surely there’s someone who knows the score?

Maybe a mystical, erudite man,

Who’s studied the subject assiduously,

And who can outline the heavenly plan.

I’d feel so much better knowing what is in store.

I’d be so much happier too!

But I’ve got the feeling that I’ll be kept in the dark.

No advice is going to get through.

Look, I’ll make a final statement to you,

I could be just a little bit scared.

If you know anything at all, just let me know.

And help me to be properly prepared.

By Parth Way.

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