Do not be sad

Do not be sad, when I will be away

as soon or late each one of us must hence.

It is our slow, dim fate: we are bound to decay –

Yet it is not so bad or unkind an offence.

The fact that I chose which was the un-day

that I would have death for me to commence

isn't what you would expose as cowardly or foul play –

the mere act of taking a breath is at times too intense.

So don't be down to see me leave today.

Allow me to tread beyond the dark fence...

yes, I'm dead, yet certain I haven't gone astray:

I am where all of us must drown every pretence.

The weight on my back often made me sway,

The love of my friends often was immense,

Oft the pain that offends, that nothing could allay,

painted my days black and blue and dulled my good sense

and I could find against the buffets no defence –

one shouldn't slack one's pace yet one shouldn't delay.

I'm gone to the undiscovered country

for the one I have paced was much too dense,

too wan was its sun, too harsh its reality,

too uncaring, too bitter were its sentiments,

too harrowing – and a disaster – was the fray

for me to go on facing all the evidence.

Do not cry, and I beg you, do not pray,

I chose to die and pay the last expense.

I no longer lie nor feel sorry for those who betray,

I no longer shy nor suffer from any negligence –

my current turned awry in a sudden turn of events –

I know I should have said goodbye, but I have a long way.

In memory of Luc C.