Abide

Abide
by Michael R. Burch

after Philip Larkin’s “Aubade”

It is hard to understand or accept mortality"

such an alien concept: not to be.

Perhaps unsettling enough to spawn religion,

or to scare mutant fish out of a primordial sea

boiling like goopy green soup in a kettle.

Perhaps a man should exhibit more mettle

than to admit such fear, denying Nirvana exists

simply because we are stuck here in such a fine fettle.

And so we abide . . . even in life, staring out across that dark brink.

And if the thought of death makes your questioning heart sink,

it is best not to drink (or, drinking, certainly not to think).