Pursuit of Death

I once heard of a forlorn old lady

Who of life was awful weary

She thought much her life to take

But such was squalid to dare

So she prayed and ere hoped

That her life soon would end

What wearied her so, I knew not

But I know, so the story’s told.

 

Once, she sat by her forlorn house

On her equally forlorn old chair

For all around her took her form

So it was, she heard three gossip

Of a young widowed family near

With the mother recently dead

And two children needing to care

But all who went to be a nanny

Were all dead by day twenty

The first two seemed coincidental

And the third went the same way

So it was concluded

The fourth would go thus too

 

 

 

The littly girl and wee boy

Whose momma was dead

Were left with helpless pa

Cos no one would risk death

For children not born of them

 

Our forlorn old woman excited,

That she’d finally found her death

Rushed out to seek the family

There to die in a manner worthy

 

The family surprised one would come

Again to care and work for them

Told her to leave them be

That they’d manage or die

As it was their cross to bear

And another soul dead on them

Was a cross they wished not carry

 

She refused to leave

Said she was sated already

And her death at a spent age

Would not be their cross at all

 

As the days rolled by

 She was gay and elated

She knew each day she lived

Were a few more to her end

 

And when the days were nineteen

Even the neighbors were counting

Many bade her safe journey home

And were surprised she was happy so

The children too young to understand

And the father praying she’d live the night

All bade her good night as darkness fell

Not sure whether goodnight till the morrow

Or till the great morning call of judgment

Only the morrow could tell

Only the morrow would tell.

 

When the twentieth morning came

The sun was out and working its way up

The neighbors waited in their homes

Listening for the first shout of mourning

The father afraid to rise out of bed

Cos then he’d know if she was up or gone

And the children still fast asleep

Turning and peeing into the morning

 

When the first light hit her face

She knew it was heaven’s light

For the night had been dreary

And she was happy to be home

She smiled and opened her eyes

To see the gates that were pearly

What she saw was a roof brown

So she blinked to remove images of earth

Images that followed her to eternity

But the brown roof didn’t seem to go

So she turned to look at other scenes

Then she saw her metal box

And the green drapes on the wall

She wondered if people dreamt in heaven

For she was sure she was dead and now home