Everything Dies

Everything dies
stars explode
meteors fall
galaxies rip themselves apart from tide

Flowers
wither on the vine
falling to earth
Pumpkins rot
Toothy Jack O' Lantern grin
biting into itself, folding
its face in mock denture
until black ooze comes from its eyes

What part of a human
is the immortal soul
What part lives on after death

Can I angle my windshield back
so that the bullet glances off
or the roadside explosion
dashed against the hardened undercarriage
Will the fiber in my tire
keep the wheel from getting shot

Is life
War

If it is
then
My immortal soul

Is going to hide behind rocks and trees
And fire at you
And you have to wear red
And march in a straight line

And whatever nobility exists
Among all this death
and war
will be taken away
and made with humility
into something worth having
just as long as you remember
To play to win


And walk away
if they walk up to you
with a crown