Death has been walking in my shadow
Since birth
When a virus
Waged war with my heart
Stealing my weight
My youth
Often leaving me struggling for breath
The scarecrow teen without a girl friend
The first lesson from Death
Came when my grandmother died
After losing a leg to Diabetes
One of Death's soldiers
Such as Heart Disease and Cancer
Shattering the clay pot where my tears hid
In Vietnam,
My unit earned a presidential citation
Thanks to Death
Taking fifty percent causalities
Arriving one round at a time
Hidden in buried explosives
On the dark wings of rockets
and Agent Orange
From a government that lies
For profit demanding obedience
Death followed me home from Southeast Asia
Taking my mother at 89
My father at 79
My brother at 64
A loving aunt in her 70s
The Uncle called Lloyd at 93,
who defeated Death in Burma
After crossing the mountains
From India in World War II
In 2011, an eighty-year old father-in-law
Spread his wife's ashes in the East China Sea
One by one
Spread across decades
These people that I knew
That I loved
That I liked
and admired
Followed Death to its home
Death visited again recently
Taking a neighbor too early
A good man deserving more years
With his loving family missing him
and friends that enjoyed his company
Cheated
While a more deserving candidate
Closer to the end of the street
Survived to drive his shiny dark cars
Worn as emblems of ruthless corporate success
I have learned that Death always wins
and suffering is for the living
Share
Print
Save