For Christmas:

Thy Dying in a Pleasant Place

For that thou hast been my friend; for that thou has been the constant one for that thou hast been a golden purse in poverty for that thou hast loved the crippled singer, will I take thee to a quiet place where falling makes for no alarm, where sinking is a quiet thing, where pain is a journey's end, where sunshine does not vie with Death for eminence, but lies soft upon the dying as the quick, and they are not apart; I will give thee a soft place to lie, and water, in the place of breath, and many things, and there I will await with thee thy passing.

Help me make thee calm, for I am torn, and I am scream again.

And how ever shall I walk away again?


©  Copyright, 1999; Malcolm Beckett



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