Death of a Writer

Can I finally fall off the page?

Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

In the end, you will just walk off the page
traverse a few lines, teeter on the margins
best foot forward, trailing into a blue-black beyond.
You will resist with tears & extra footholds
plenty of hand-wringing, watching your ink run dry.
If you are a climber, it will be worse simply
because you tend to hold on.
I heard about her final breaths —
even though she had barely seen a mountain
letting go was tough. You forget she was a bell-ringer
scarred by rope burns & easy charm.
How do you trust the sky to bear
what you have done & worse — omitted?
If I am with you at the end I will be merciful
like a fellow scribe rewriting your lines.
You can die well, you can ring that final bell.
Time to put the pen down.

Copyright Simon Heathcote