Five Poems on Death

Death Returnsasa child-then when you were old enough to make
Death returns: it found no resting place;friends
I saw it in flight, last night over the Sierras;beneathI saw you again.... It was you who worshiped my
the last sparks of twilight-!kindsof sins-then you broke away, but now is the
The condor's wings covered death's decent;and glidestime to startcarving new adventures. I have left one
now through the air in peace!sap and root foryou-let there be commerce between
Yet death's tail-shadow leaves at dawn, toreturn atus?"
dusk, blue-bellied full-asif it has swallowed a whaleI said back to Him, "Dark eyed, ivory scandaled,
(once again).thereis none like thee, among heaven, earth or hell;
The condor, the condor, likened to a fly in anone withsuch swift feet, like your tongue-dark as
webdeath finds no rest, only new flesh, new flesh!midnightare your shoulders-face of a dead seabed."
No: 1949 8-27-2007No: 1954, 8-28-2007
Death:Selected for Death
The Roots of the Earth"No, no! Go from me-!" I left death lately in her
Death has a way of saying Hello, when it meanssheath
Goodbye!-oh! Dim it was, for she surrounded me.
We beings on earth's surface never reallyThin, are her arms, yet such a grip-they bound
disappear-onlyme,immoveable, and left me...cloaked, as in a web,a
Transform.cocoon-subtle and swift she was, like magic, in
From the moment of death the body will change,herbinding.
you can'thear it, it simply gets foggy-becoming the"No, no! I cried, "go from me, I have still your
roots of the earth.taste-your scent, your soot, your aye-halt!"
No: 1950 8-27-2007(But she wouldn't listen.)
The Mystery of LifeNo: 1952 8-28-2007
How mysteries to be born a human beingDeath Passed Me Once
-and then to die as one!(1993)
To be able to wash off those old fleshy garmentsofThis man knew the secrets of death
bark and milky-clay...!(he cast them over my head).
We are the honored ones-(you know)given to aNo man could know such things, unlesshe was part
whole world system-:one hand reaching to heavenof it.
the other to hell;the truth is, we have two flavors.And now he's gone, he up and left-
Those who have not been born yet:man and beast(just like that...).
are not so far apartI called, "Are you near?" and he didnot answer me
(and very hard to please).back.
No: 1951 8-27-2007Then at the end of my bed, I saw-why!
Dialogue with the DevilThere stood in my hospital room, theeyes and
"I'll make a pack with you," said He to me (the Devil),shoulders of a great being:
"I have detested you long enough. I first saw youHe did not speak, -he simple watchedover me.