It’s Friday night in
the Rose and Crown.
We’re three beers up,
with more going down.
.
John, Dave and myself
for two hours or more,
have been debating
politics and the law.
.
Suddenly, for no reason,
I’m thinking of death.
Of that moment when
I take my last breath.
.
I’m young and I’m rich;
free as a bird.
To be morbid like this
is plainly absurd.
.
I’m wishing some power
would explain to me,
how I’m going to die
and when will it be.
.
Someone is listening
because all goes still.
No movement or sound,
then - a sudden chill.
.
I’m in a white room.
Where? I don’t know.
A woman appears
in a radiant glow.
.
She has a folder.
My name is clear.
She says kindly,
‘Your future’s in here.
.
But be really sure
you want to know.
You can change your mind;
and be free to go.
.
But once you’ve found out,
you can’t change a thing.
In here it shows when
you’ve had your last fling.’
.
Well, if it’s kismet,
I’ll find out now.
Whatever it is, it
will happen anyhow.
.
I open the folder
bearing my name.
My death is there,
the details proclaim:
.
Heart failure on
March 1st. 2008.
8.20p.m. is when I’ll
meet Peter at the gate.
.
I look up and exclaim,
‘That’s now…today!’
She smiles sadly as
she leads me away.
.
To his two shocked friends
The paramedic stressed,
their mate had died
of a cardiac arrest.
.
The moral is
simple and sublime:
“Forget about tomorrow;
enjoy this day, and time!”

…

Joe Thomas. 2008.