They Say He Died Suddenly
June 6 2006


They say he died suddenly;
not unexpected, just a minimum of fuss.
I suppose this is said to console us:
that he did not suffer,
that there was no time for fear to chill his core,
and that his life had meaning to the very end.

Of course, every death is sudden
— it’s the dying that grinds on mercilessly.
And there is letting-go and there is struggle,
but either way
there comes one incomprehensible moment
when a soul passes from the land of the living to the dark realm of the dead.
It slips from cooling waxy skin
and crosses that paper-thin barrier
as opaque as a black crepe curtain
which conceals the last great mystery.
So death is always instantaneous,
which is at least a grudging mercy.

It’s the beginning of life where there’s uncertainty.
Does it happen at conception,
or the opening breath,
or when the first vague memory stirs?

Or does life begin by degree?
So birth is incremental;
it’s death that comes suddenly.