who rides up quietly behind to place a gentle but firm hand
on my shoulder
who works
without smiling but with all his teeth showing
who dresses in black and hides his face from the light
who walks
right beside us, though just out of sight
who finds us with ease no matter where we travel
who takes
only his due which is all that we have
who comes filled with mercy for those who have suffered
who frightens
the widows as they lay under the covers
who laughs at the devil and jesus alike
who is with
us at night and in the strongest of light
who helps us to hurry and then stays our hand
who leads us
back to the void from where we once sprang
who finds us our place at just the right time
who keeps us
moving from dust back to dust once again
who answers all questions with only silence and shepherds us
away
who singles
out every one of us on our assigned day
who does not discriminate between human and animal
who keeps
track of all living things place in the line
who at last relieves us of all of our suffering
who leads us
so gently away from ourselves
who is always there in spite all of our loneliness
who kindly
stays with us until we are quite finished
who cannot be imagined but is neither forgotten nor
remembers
who knows
only the mercy of random number generation
who knows us, one and all, in an anonymous but intimate way
who is the
one that none of us can ever know at all
who may come here for us but cannot linger
who takes us
off somewhere that we never experience
who takes us away but carries no burden
who else is so natural but fills us
with such fright
who can we know only in our imaginations
who cancels
our debts and takes all our money
who does not listen and has no need to see
who never
speaks except with our voices
who rustles the curtains and obscures the moon
who plays no
part in any memorial service
who do we welcome while crawling in pain
who speaks to
the children who cannot understand
who can surprise us so completely we leave without our
farewells
who deliberates
for months as we waste away
who do we think that we never shall see
who knows the
date we cannot escape
who touches but once as we grow stone cold
who is gone
long before our faces turn gray
who gathers us together though working alone
who does not
live but always exists only where there is life
who handles the details as we slip away
who takes the
wheel as we lose our grip
who nudges us back to that unknown we sprang from
who does not
conceive of where we are going
who answers no questions but keeps us awake with our asking
who ends each
one’s sorrows in just the same way
who must we prepare for, though we cannot know how to plan
who comes
with the predator but does not stay for the feeding
who joins hands with us at birth and finally peels back
their grip
who bars the
way back but can never go with us
who leaves us with shudders after coming quite close
who abandons
us to nothing after just one short meeting
who lights the grim pathway of our last steps
who leaves us
just as soon as his promise is kept
who renders our dreams into faint echoes
who delivers
a cryptic message to the living as we pass
who sees us through a dark portal and then turns away
who never
forgets us while we ignore him during our short stay
who sits up late with us for just as long as it takes
who leaves
that sense of calm behind in his wake
who counts every creature from microscopic to whales
who helped
the dinosaurs as they slipped away
who has an ironclad contract with life itself
who may be
faced but was never meant to be conquered
who works with life to energize the entire earthly food
chain
who depends
totally on all forms of birth
who do young maidens sleep with when lovers go to war
who joins the
great circle for all of the life forms
who comes quite randomly yet with a guaranteed certainty
who gives no
answers but raises doubts and further questions
who rides at my shoulder, faithful and true
who always forgives but never forgets
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