Departures

Leaving this life is not so hard.
It's the thought
of being dead, permanently,
that doesn't quite appeal.
An absence of existence
mocks the resistance
that makes this life so real.
Surreal?
Anyway,
you can be led, half mentally,
traded, sold, and bought --
like a dealer throws a card.

O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue.
Read out these words at night, alone --
I was a poet, I was young*

KISS, clearly means
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
So do not go gentle
into that good night;
gather together your mental
defences, stand and fight.

In spite of public opinion,
Death has no lasting dominion.
Shake the bars of the cage,
fight and rage,
and when you go down, finally,
all anger, teeth, and claws,
make the most frightful,
and embarrassing,
and difficult
and excruciating
trouble you can cause.

Do not go gentle, do not
go gentle into that good night!
Rage against
the dying of the light!
Do not go soft on me,
do not go soft on me
at the end.

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* James Ellroy Flecker (1884-1915)

Quotations have been pulled from Dylan Thomas: