When even before the dawn

did awaken me as a babe...

Death was light years away

smiling seriously across all time

silently It whispered:

I’ll be seeing you someday

Until then directed He

follow Edgar Allen Poe

to a kingdom by the sea

a promise there is held below

for you and your Annabel Lee

When later the sun arose

in i a wonder child...

watching me as shadow

casting from the moon

quietly Death followed:

I will see you soon

He cooed hush in my young ears

As your fever grows still hotter

just follow Holling’s tears

back into the water

Years later with a lust in the afternoon

reserved only for youth invincible...

Death and i secretly agreed:

if She came just a little closer

O! For certain

i would be freed

Death and i flirted often then, as

we rocked so hard with Dylan Thomas

together we danced wildly in delight

Rage! Rage against the dying of the light!

Middle-aged now

and (of course), divorced...

Death on earth is here

in loss and many lessons

The Reaper sends me blessings

crying me a river with each tear

In evening words that curiously compel

like a balloon on the edge of a knife,

like a husband mourning his late wife

She quotes artist Wes Tyrell:

"Those who fail to see the beauty of Death

are missing the poignancy of life."

Now here i sit and steer

having weathered many storms

from the stern of golden years

know Death in countless forms

Now beckoning me to bed

She is kissing me on the mouth

She is sucking me east and west

She is stroking me north and south

Lo! Heroically i lay claim

(As in George R.R. Martin's Game)

There is only one God!

Her name is Death!

Though She keeps calling us to play

There is only one thing we say

To Death

We say not today!

Embracing then my precious life

as exhaled sweetly through a fife

though merely instrument to Her

smiling at Death i cause a stir

She smiles back by playing me hard

i another marlin baited for the fight

thrashing gleaming in my disregard

flashing silver keen and bright

Death has had me hooked since birth

as all who swim in splashing earth

yet She grants my unspoken wish

as for all time with every fish

Now i landed, weighed and measured

Now i stranded, full and pleasured

Death a man rowing day and night

Death a woman flowing dark and light

Though Death be what we make of It

Ripple or tsunami we each submit

Shuddering warm wet waves until

finally, surrendering, i am still

now just floating in my canoe

enjoying my last breath or two

My Death now as My Life

most colourful and glorious

Leaving every song and strife

to Her aurora borealis

Orange sinking from horizon's sight

deep purple tuning up the night

a red zeppelin's map at last unfurls

how we carved out green new worlds

in the deep tidal blue wake of wonder

with a yellow moon left to ponder

Now rolling over Her

billows of black and white

feeling blessed and grateful

slowly i fade from sight

Death an endless ocean

swallowing the stars and me

now gone this age old longing

for my own sweet Annabel Lee

D’yer Maker?

oh oh baby

every breath i take

every move i make

Always within reach

paddling to the sea