Feel free to mourn me when I’m gone,
When I will not be back again.
It’s natural to grieve at death
For those who miss you so, I know.

But don’t forget to celebrate my life
And all I’ve done on this fair earth.
Be full of joy about these things:
Immortalise me for my deeds.

I hope to live for many a long year:
If possible cheat Death immortally,
Perhaps by going somewhere safe
From the Grim Reaper’s deadly scythe.

I hope for many table tennis wins
And trending poems, before I leave this mortal coil.
Iambic rhythms throughout cyber space,
Free verse expressing a greater vision.

I’ve planned ahead by writing this,
And might have jumped the gun maybe.
But when you read this out perhaps,
I might by now be Free.

Paul Butters

© PB 19\6\2016.

I am of a strange alchemy.
Iron and tarnished silver,
with porcelain hands.
The rest feels like glass.
Fragile.
Vulnerable.
As though the smallest tremor
could send me falling
to shatter.

Have you ever fallen in love for an instant?
For just a moment,
all you want is that person.
For an instant,
everything is frozen.
Then all in the same moment
it all changes back
and life hits you hard
and that person never crosses your mind again
but in the back of your mind
you will always remember that love you had
just for that short second.

There is a point we reach in life
where we lose more than we gain
be it people, money, teeth or hair
We need to treasure what remains

If it's hair that we have lost
And our scalp is now exposed
we need to deal with what is left
and make our style not look posed

Teeth, now there's a mouthful
A subject that will make me smile
I left mine on a hilltop
And they've been up there a while

Money, what is there to say
That has not been said before?
The sinking dollar and inflation
Adds me to the working poor

But family, yes I said family
More die now, we're at that age
When we attend too many funerals
Instead, no weddings take the stage

Treasure your belongings
Your teeth, money and hair
But, remember all your loved ones
One day, they won't be there