Death dropped by this morning  
With espresso in a mug
Not a dainty little demitasse  
And he sat down on my rug
His face was rough with stubble
But I didn't ask him why
Some things you just don't ask
So I let some time run by

In course he gazed upon me
And in a hoarse voice spoke
“I really do not mean you harm
It's just that when I woke
I found that I was lonely
And I hoped you wouldn't mind
If I dropped by for just a while -
If that's not out of line.”

“You see I know about you,
I've seen you once or twice
And I watched you comfort others
And I thought that you seemed nice
So though your own appointment
Is a fair time away
I hoped you might allow me
A few moments here today”

“I know that people fear me
Though I never knew just why
I do a vital service
I'm really a nice guy
Do people really want to live
Forever without end?
Because that's not as good as it
Might sound to you, my friend.”

“The life you live is precious
But it's not all that there is
You can take my word on that
Or if you like, take His
There really is a purpose
And I'm part of the plan
Even though you might not see
It from this mortal land.”

You may not think all of this real
But I tell now, it's what he claimed
And when he finished up his mug
I feared I would be maimed
But that much of his words were true
He did no harm as he did say
As for the rest, who knows for sure
I guess we'll see another day.

Pieces broken everywhere
   There!
by the coffee *** I see one,
   who knows why it was left
and over by the chair,

I do not think this used to happen,
but these days I find the pieces all the time...
sometimes they're plain
sometimes they rhyme
Little pieces of my mind...

a buzzer sounds to say it's time
   now where is that fragment of my mind?
I better set the next alarm
Or surely something won't get done -
   Oh yes, I guess I need a drink,
that would have been the one
   I saw beside the coffee ***,
and wasn't I about to write
but wait there's art that must get done
   or was it – oh a buzz again
there's something else that needs
   attention from another piece
how did I do it way back when?

Never do I lack for words to speak
Yet often the words say so little
Please forgive me if they are just noise
For what I think and feel is so much more

Sometimes when your eyes touch mine
For a moment only in the passing
A hundred emotions thunder through my veins
I do not ask if this is so for you, nor shall I ever

The sun sets in beauty
yet with it come the shadows of the night
to consume the last vestiges of the day
Like time fading old memories
those pools where the last rays blur with the first shadows
lay there like sorrows almost forgotten.

Why didn't I meet you sooner
Before the pain, before the crazy days?
Why didn't I meet you soon enough to save you
   from the fate that awaited you
and to be saved
   from the one that awaited me?

We were young once,
we could have healed
I could have given you
two perfect tears to wear as earrings
and you could have given me the same
as cuff links or to hold my tie

But we did not meet until we were broken
yet even now I could, if you could still accept
have given you frost on snow as pure as light from Heaven
but you do not wear earrings anymore
and I no longer have a tie

I walk bravely in fear
and know that I will fail
for what other outcome is there?
And yet,
                   I can not think of not proceeding.
This is my life -
This is my all -
                                without it there is nothing.
No point to Be
                             even though I would still exist.
No
I do not do this because I must
I do this because it is what I am.
and if I do not, than why am I?

It is my choice
                                mine alone
and yet
                could there ever be a choice
I do this because
I have always done this
                                                and
I will always have done this.
Is it free will or destiny?
I can choose to become
                                                 nothing...
but is that a choice?