Steps
-mors vincit omnia
The many old who live alone
must pay attention, take care.
Any misstep might hasten their descent.
Tumble down the lonely steps.
Lie waiting in your own filth,
unable to reach a phone.
What loneliness must attend such a fall?
If only we could choose.
Proud Aeschylus was struck down
by a falling tortoise.
That’s not too bad.
To be hit by a bus while
lighting one last lethal cigarette.
That’s even better.
In bed, at ninety, chugging toward
one, final gasp of orgasm.
Even better yet.
But not in a strange bed hooked up
to noisy, indifferent machines,
poisoned by chemotherapy,
surrounded by terrified
friends and family struck dumb,
embarrassed and uncomfortable,
stunned by their own fears.
Best on your own two feet.
Like a soldier before the bullet.
Like a Viking struck down in battle.
Like you might have even mattered.
But there is no choosing.
Decrepitude is chiseled in our DNA.
You cannot escape the
inevitable carnage of mortality,
but you can be very careful
where you place your feet.
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