Acceptance in Mortality
Credit to https://medium.com/@contactblockwife for The Decibel poetry format, The explanation is as follows:
The Decibel poem is composed of ten stanzas in total.
The first stanza begins with one line, increasing one line at a time, ending at ten lines.
Each stanza increases the number of syllables per line, from one syllable in the first line until you compose the tenth stanza with ten lines of ten syllables each.
— — —
Death.
Quite,
Still peace.
Approaching,
Without care,
For consent.
Without warning,
Without remorse,
With no retries,
With no backup.
No bribe high enough,
No cry loud enough,
No threat great enough,
Nothing we can do,
Except acceptance.
I don’t know when it’s here,
I don’t know how it comes,
I can’t control my fate,
I can’t change what arrives,
But one thing I can do,
Is greet the knock with pride.
Pride in what I accomplished,
Pride that I have loved many,
Pride that I was generous,
And gave what I could through words,
Through money, through thoughtfulness,
Through patience for others ways,
Most important, acceptance.
All men die, not all truly live,
All men live, not always for love,
All lives are lost in one last breath,
Not every life spends it breathing,
Spends it listening to others,
Their broken hearts, their sorry past,
Not every soul can handle it,
Acceptance in mortality.
My death will have me when it’s earned me,
My death will bring my closest friends down,
Ev’ry death before in history,
Is too expensive of a payment,
For the loved ones who are left behind,
Emotions rise like comets through skies,
Breaking homes, breaking hearts even more,
Making plans reluctantly knowing,
We will never be truly ready.
But there will be stories told at my death,
My funeral will bring folks together,
In remembrance of what I have done,
For my precious and dear relationships,
That I have collected over the years,
And treated with respect as best I could,
I hope they see me and say something like,
“To my loving friend who I miss so much,
They were weird, loved ducks, may they rest in peace,”
But I will not accept my death until-…
