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.
