THE OLD LIVING LARK

"I like being dead me!"
he says.

"Much better than that living lark!"
he says.

"What I like is the complete absence of time."
he says.

"Or the way time collapses in on itself."
he says.

"Look out the window. See..?"
he says.

"A Roman Legion being chased by a dinosaur!"
he says.

"...in a hover car!"
he says.

"Wonders will never cease!"
he says.

"And that dinosaur...can't even drive!"
he says.

"It all gets a bit Thornton Wilder-ish!"
he says.

"But I shouldn't be saying this to you!"
he says.

"Not while you're not dead yet!"
he says.

"Or says you escape by the skin of your teeth!"
he says.

"And don't die at all!"
he says.

"I'm dying..?"
I say.

"You could call it that."
he says.

"And what are you...a ghost?"
I say.

"Naw mate...didn't get my ghosting licence!"
he says.

"Failed it every time!"
he says.

"I'm here to help you cross!"
he says.

"Aww mate...don't you go and live on me!"
he says.

"I'll catch hell for this!"
he says.

"Sorry..!"
I say.

"Sorry! Sorry you says!"
he says.

And fades.

And life fades
back in again.

"Well..." I say to myself
"...it's back to the old living lark!"