Were Death To Come

Were Death to come and meet me
I would put my hands in his,
and leave out all my questions-
for what was no longer is.

Were Death to come and meet me
I might caress his face,
and wonder if he were lonely
not owning time or place.

Were Death to come and meet me
I would heave a heavy sigh,
for no matter what life's misery
I'm not sure I want to die.

Were Death to come and meet me
I would not say his name
but pray that his arrival
would be wrought with little pain

But Death has come to meet me
he awaits my final kiss,
now I promise, I promise,
I promise, not to miss.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow i am so glad this found its way back to the front page....i missed this the fisrt time.

this reminds me so much of Emily Dickinson's "because i could not stop for death"

making death out to be more of a gentleman caller than the grim reaper...more like a date...

and you wrote such a beautiful allegory here...

to touch his face, caress, kiss...ah yes.
in sensual terms...speaking of the meeting.

[Muse]

I like the following..

Were Death to come and meet me
I might caress his face,
and wonder if he were lonely
owning neither time nor place.

and the way you finished it off...

But Death has come to meet me
he awaits my final kiss,
and I promise, I promise,
I promise not to miss.


Death never looked so humble...so human.

[icelandicblue]

Thank you, you have distilled the essence of the poem.

[KAOlmsted]

This is a great write...that second stanza made me go *blink blink* I mean, seriously...what an incredible thought...is Death lonely? And, you know I imagine he doesn't get a very well reception from most, so to offer him some human kindness in your last breath says volumes about you. Excellent. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

-kimmer

[icelandicblue]

Thank you so much for your review. I appreciate your thoughts.

blue

[KAOlmsted]

My pleasure.

[Stefon Napier]

Your grasp of the subject is remarkable. I think you have done a very good job trying to have a relationship with death in this poem because it its a relationship we all must come too. Excellent work.

[icelandicblue]

Thank you so much for reading this poem. I truly appreciate it.

[SL Waits]

I love how this poem flows! I do, however, feel like some of the stanzas are a little ... strange. I don't really get the concept or idea of this poem. It starts out with wanting to embrace death, then humanizing and empathizing with death, then not wanting to die, then hoping death would be gentle, then dying. I feel like it has good potential, but the logic just isn't there... even poetry logic.