Death

I have sinned
and my wage is death



A dark aria played upon four strings
the melody that lifegod sings
comes to end

I have sinned
and the wages of sin are death
the gift of god is eternal life
but my hand closes tight

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

I try to open my hand
they drive the nail through
but still it closes
why have you forsaken me

Looking up I see
through blood upon my brow
the Blue Angels
flying in formation low
scattering my ash to wind

I see them fly straight up into the sky
and my lifedream
reaches further
and I see them flying higher
their blue and gold wings
so high the sky turns black
and then
they return to earth again
flying straight at each other
re-entering our atmosphere like a spaceship
and crossing at the airstrip
the white hot wings passing another
separated by mere inches
and the crowd cheers

All joy and desire are but empty smoke
and I fall within, the ashes of my body a pattern
that glitters like sand
you could hold in your hand
and floats down to earth
like a feather
made of diamond

Life is like a box of chocolates
you never know what you're going to get
so they say

but death is different
death is precision
death is cheerful
death is the termination of biological functions
that determine an organism
coded into every cell
the exception alone
turritopsis nutricula transdifferentiation
but I am human
and she has touched my skin
and though I am not cold I know

death plays to win