I first glimpsed death
In a hospital bed
His eyes were blue
But his hands were red

He wore the bleak expression
Of a dying man
He began to speak
But first, I ran

We met once more
On a mountain pass
Where he handed me
A broken glass

I asked him
What the glass was for
But even he
Wasn’t sure

Death visited again
Late last night
And he held my hand
Up to the light

He leaned in close
So only I could hear
And he asked
“What is it that you fear?”

“You”
I replied
Decisively
“More than anything else,
You terrify me”

“Me?
He frowned
down at his shoes
“You know,
I only bear the news”

Again
Death asked
“What do you fear?”
I stared
“Do you truly
Want to hear?”

So I thought up the best answer
I could compose
“I fear the monsters
That live in your shadows”

I searched his expression
Looking for some clue
Finally he whispered
“I fear them too”

We've spent up the time
Our wallets forsaken
Credit cards cut
Into shreds on the floor
Put back the champagne
Our IDs have been taken
Time has come
That we leave the store

With everything done
Everyone gone
We pull out our own personal scales
We clutter them full of our moments
And value our losses
Against which
The good often fails

But some nights
In our houses
Our scales revived
We sit before screens
And we press rewind
We search, and search
Until we find
A second of love
Peace of mind

We distill those sweet seconds
Into sugar wine
We carry it with us
To drink past the time
We remember, remember
So sweet on the the tongue
The good old days
When we were young

We wrap the fermenter in a blanket
And tuck it into bed
We watch as fermented dreams
Float through his little head
Then we siphon into still,
Careful not to spill
And raise our glasses to the sky

We drink the chemicals
That the fermenter does yield
And with each passing sip
Our fates are sealed

We drink
We drink although we have been told
That the plum tree
Which grows too much fruit
Is fated only to fold

We drink
We drink because we know
That the honorable hunter
Does not **** with his bow

We drink
And drink until we can see
A future in which
We are free

Free to live the lives
That we wish to pursue
Free to sleep through the night
And free to brew