I don't want to put faith in love again
I keep my circle small now
choosing carefully,
deciding if they are worth
dying another death of my own.

I am afraid that once more death
shall steal them away
placing me in pews of hard wood
where pink tulips and white lilies
adorn caskets and tears fall.

I don't wish to write another eulogy
nor attend another wake, where yet again
we drown our sorrows in shot glasses
and feigned smiles.

I have reached an age where friends fall from trees
like brown leaves in autumn
my circle shrinks slowly, my days grow greyer
and I just don't want to feel this pain any more....