Dance of death

You were seventy,
you said, that day
at lunch, and you
would not grow old

and infirm, where
others had to care
for you, and where
you drained their

lives, and existed
in your own misery,
and so, you gave
yourself ten years,

and then, you said,
you would go to
Europe for a holiday,
somewhere lovely

like Lake Como, on
your way to someone
with a needle, who
could, in an instant,

bring it all to an end,
so no-one had to
suffer in that lingering
of life - but would you?

It is easy to talk of
what we might do in
ten, long years, as
opposed, to ten, short

minutes left of life,
and where in that
plan is trust, for the
process of this journey

we take as mortal
beings; gratitude for
the horrors and joys
of living in this

material world? But,
of course, your path
is not mine, and it
may have its own

ending, long before
you set out for Lake
Como, and the need-
ling end of existence.