THE END OF THE BEGINNING

It all happened
in a fraction of a second

or rather
a fraction of a fraction

of a second
or

rather
in no time at all

and somehow there was
no time at all

the world was still
alive

yet she
was not.

Odd that.

A wild flower
kept on growing.

A bird announced itself
to the morning.

And was answered back
by a barking dog

some distance away
the M25 flowed by her door

as if it had
just woken up.

A fly landed on
her eye.

Walked about
on its pupil.

She had not
expected death

to come so
unexpected

or to be
or to be

( the bird mocking her innocently )

well, like
- this.

"Now fades...the something...lands on the sight?"
she quoted to herself.

The old poems never abandoned her.

The wild flower
such a precious thing

appeared all ears
as if

it was listening with
every petal.

"And all the air
a solemn stillness

holds."

A voice without
a body

completed the quote
like a circle closing.

"Thank you!" she smiled
primly and politely.

"I do know my lines
you know."

"So, this is death then
is it not?"

she said for her own
satisfaction.

"I thought it would be
somehow...different?"

"The end.
So to speak?"

"Oh dear me, oh dear me
no!"

Death laughed

offering her
its hand.

"...this is just the end
of the beginning."