He Rides With Me

He rides with me

          Long bony fingers rest lightly upon my shoulder

He stands behind me

          He casts a shadow upon me even under noonday sun

He takes rest with me

          He reeks of the earthy smell of my own decay

He laughs with me

          He sees my toothless skull beneath the sandy soil

He looks at me

          From somewhere within my dying father’s eyes

He comforts me as he holds me close

          when I can no longer bear the pain

He waits with patience for me

          While my short moments come to pass

He drinks with me

          And he helps me to see how old you know I have become

He trains with me

          As I prepare to take him on

He believes in me

          And truly I can never fail him

He flees with me

           We look back for him together

He stays with me

          Always just a careless moment from leaving for good

He prays with me

          With his toothy grimace, ever unchanging

He closes his hollow eyes with me

          In case the bell should toll while I sleep

He reminisces with me

          His dry cackle sending the noisy crows into the air

He takes to the road with me

          As we seek the kindness of some good soul to bury me

He rolls the dice with me

          Someday those grinning snake eyes will come up at last

He gives thanks with me

          For without life he does not exist

He takes chances with me

          But never does he lose his grip upon my naked soul

He grows careless with me

          And he lets me make it easier for him to do his job

He grieves with me

          And his tears are as cold as any November rain

He forgets with me

          Yet through dreams he always keeps in touch

He smells the Spring with me

          Even as we rest alone in the darkness of February

He rages with me

          But there is no rage to be found within him

He breathes with me

          And every single breath reduces my precious finite store

He believes with me

          Without any wavering from the goal that we share

He grows fatigued with me

          And his shadow increases in its length and darkness

He wastes time with me

          For to him it is indeed just the same

He gasps for air with me

          Thereby gaining more of his real voice

He absorbs the world with me

          As he prepares to begin my sifting back to the earth

He goes to war with me

          Soundlessly he greets those with my brothers

He answers the call with me

          Steadying my gait upon this pre-ordained path

He contemplates forever with me

          Yet he is but the mute doorman to the void

He is frightened with me

          But he whispers that soon I will fear no more

He tells lies with me

          Only laughing out loud when I lie to myself

He stumbles off to sleep with me

          My snoring and my mumbling help him to frighten children

He fades away with me

          Until my bones are bleached so white and very pure

He stays at home with me

          Quiet and clean until my time has come

He struggles for life with me

          And in the end he is there beside me

He makes deals with me

          Somehow I miss the details just like all the others

He asks for mercy with me

          For she is, after all, his saintly sister

He views the microcosm with me

          His hand ever upon me, watching their lives play out

He grows pale with me

          But for him, it is a sign of increasing strength

He makes foolish mistakes with me

          Just to illustrate how close he always remains

He reeks of life just like me

          Maybe a little more damp but very earthy

He sits up with me

          Staring into the dark with those huge empty eyes

He drives too fast with me

          His grip ever tightening upon my shoulder

He helps himself with me

          And he might envy all the fat that he will never have

He watches the sunset with me

          Our dusty smiles and tattered looks, one and the same

He heads off alone with me

          Always just as close as that last mistake

He smiles with me

          For he is always grinning, in any case

He kisses ass with me

          It is the kiss of death no matter what

He finds time with me

          Just the same he counts the knots every day

He loses consciousness with me

          Knowing all the while if it will return

He blasphemes with me

          Laughing at the slightest unease that I might feel

He gets quite sick with me

          Finding my feverish ruminations entertaining

He fucks with what I call my soul

          But that is neither his real job nor his true purpose

He slays the enemy with me

          And together we watch ourselves lay down til I die

He finds fault with me

          Shrieking with inner joy at the life that’s left within me

He wanders aimlessly with me

          Every stop a ticket punched on my chosen route

He stands in the rain with me

          Our dirty clothes all wet in the shadow of a rainbow

He fears the unknown sounds of the night with me

          My anticipation seems to draw him nearer

He performs one routine task after another with me

          A monotony of boredom before my delivery to the emptiness

He sees all this suffering with me

          His whispers of the causes and the meaning, I never quite hear

His vision fades with mine

          As the grasp I only thought I had upon the world grows ever weaker

He stands shivering in the snow with me

          But he is ever so much colder without any flesh

He pays back debts with me

          And in the end I still owe him everything

He becomes lost in thought with me

          But those brief moments are deducted just the same

He strays off course with me

          Yet the path we take remains just as straight

He makes friends with me

          During that brief interval between the ashes

He performs unspeakable acts with me

          Faithful witness to any heinous crime

He ignores advice with me

          Howling madly at the moon as we lurch along our way

He finishes jobs with me

          Every motion just one more decision that cannot be undone

He bites feeding hands with me

          But there is no joy within him from my folly

He watches others pass away with me

          Silent and alone, his emptiness fills my thoughts

He stays far away with me

          But no matter where I roam, where I am going always stays as close

He casts down his eyes and I am grateful

          As some kind soul digs my small place

He works through the pain with me

          My age a weight that slowly increases my burden

He fears for the safety of my loved ones with me

          Never losing sight of the next possible random life changing event

He evolves from dust to dust with me

          No simple journey but certain just the same

He waxes and wanes from ashes to ashes with me

          And it is not like he has never been there before

He gazes fixedly with me

          Wondering how I could have forgotten our noble cause

He founders and fails with me

          Knowing that I reach his goal under all possible scenarios

He considers the devil with me

          Not explaining what I will only understand when he shows me

He questions god with me

          But his job is finished before my nails stop growing

He feels immortal as much as me

          For he cannot realize that he, too, must perish when life is no more

He looks directly into the sun with me

          Still, no light can penetrate those empty sockets

He frolics by a fantastically colored sea with me

          He is so sober he never knows that he is stoned

He bears witness with me

          His mute testimony forever ignored by the righteous

He stops passersby with me

          They sense our closeness and try to get away

He seeks the eternal with me

          But he cannot know that some day he too will have no more work

Unexpectedly Into Forever

It comes early on a Saturday, out of school and without a care

          Leaving only thousands of glass shards that sparkle in the air

In a darkened room mercifully at last the long struggle finally ceases

          Leaving behind nothing but the small comfort of the ritual cleaning

After a brief and overwhelming chest pain he codes within an hour

          never had the first sign or symptom to even slow him down

Reaching for her coffee while talking on the phone she drifts to the right

          Taking out a rider who is smeared to the pavement underneath his bike

Slowly the minister backs from his driveway rehearsing his Sunday sermon

          A terrible bump and his trusting little girl is pinned beneath the wheel

A friend slides off a rainy mountain road, rolling again and again

          Those left behind are forced to ponder who stays and who must leave

A small tree planted and cared for does not awaken in the spring

          A  small part of the caretaker is consumed by his own futility

A simple misstep results in a long period lying alone and helpless

          Just as the life force slowly leaves an insect kicking on its back

Working to restore power for thousands of impatient customers

          A sudden massive jolt scrambles his life processes, all at once

Unable to sit and too weak to cough, barely able to whisper

          Fluid fills her lungs and she drowns in a bed up there on the 25th floor

Unwilling to continue coping after long & drawn out years of depression

          Sudden inspiration is followed with a quick shot to the temple

Sparking the grill loaded with unburned natural gas

          Intense explosion scatters consciousness in a fine aerosol mist

Finding a loaded weapon in the drawer next to daddy’s bed

          A smiling brother’s head is blown open, smothering the echo of his laugh

Taking a relaxing swim at a beautiful beach on a dream vacation

          The undertow silently claims another panicked victim

Working hard to save money and make a better home for his family

          The ladder slips and father falls leaving them all on their own

An improvised explosive rigged as a roadside truck bomb

          Sends bagged parts of a son home with honor in a neatly-draped coffin

Another overcrowded ferry capsizes miles out in that dark and stormy channel

          Hundreds quickly drown but others manage to struggle on for hours

Twister rakes a mobile home in which poverty’s occupants desperately hide

          Opened like a can of sardines it paws away at those inside

Oversized but lacking conscience and ignorant of moral authority

          One home boy shoots another and earns a better education in a prison

Five young graduates ride fast on country roads well after 0’DarkThirty

          And with great laughter they leave the road and suddenly end their lives together

Tiny apartment dweller is fascinated by mommy’s smoking paraphernalia

          The shiny lighter brings bright flames, smoke and fumes to where he hides

Massive sixteen wheeler crosses into the other lane as the driver falls asleep

          A coincidental family trip is ended at a randomly solid bridge abutment

Somewhere in the Andes creeping up a narrow road, an old bus blows a tire

          Forty people roll and roll into a colorfully indistinguishable blend

In the hectic traffic of a crowded southeast asian city, someone takes a chance

          And yet another cyclist spills out his brains upon that wet, warm pavement

Mother deer leads her fawn across the road for the very first time

          Speeding armored family SUV takes her out and drives on, just a bit shaken up

High on drugs and life, young men take to playfully climbing on the rocks

          Just a slight slip and that quick fall ends one life, a quick hundred feet after

One more uncontrollable burst of red-faced anger starts another day

          A sudden brain blood clot leaves behind nothing but a mute and crooked face

Loyal retriever grown too old, stands next to master’s hunting rifle once again

          Knowledge of the discharge ends when that bullet exits from his head

The miracle of a butterfly flutters through the sunlight on its appointed trajectory

          In a fraction of a second mounted inside out on the grille of my speeding vehicle

Take Them As They Lived

Take them as they doze off from another heavy meal, flat upon their couches

Remove them when their attention wanders as they sip and talk and drive

Wipe them away as they celebrate outsourcing and downsizing bonuses

Kill them just before they fondle yet another frightened child

Take them as they cast their wrappers, butts and cans upon the ground

Grant them eternal rest as they approve yet more funds for their tools of war

Stop their hands as they sign the papers that doom another marshy habitat

Stop their hearts as they stuff themselves after another phony business triumph

Take them as they thoughtlessly order the latest trendy seafood being harvested to extinction

Lay them down as they pray for unquestionable guidance on business and political decisions

Strike them as they casually fill their inefficient vehicles with more wasted non-renewable fuel

Rein them in all the way when they grow childishly drunk and roar and fight

Take them as they leave the churches gorged and belching a thick righteousness

Close their eyes as a batch of Meth explodes in their haggard, toothless faces

Quiet their voices as they preach holy violence against other equally insane religious zealots

Still the breath they would use to whine over regulation’s awful costs in jobs and money

Take them on their cell phones, their iPods, their xBoxes and their phones

Relieve them as they lay frightened and alone in the sterile pediatric units

Lift their burdens quickly when they reach that terminal stage

Silence them as they spew forth hatred, teach intolerance and spread fear

Take them as they dream of impossible better lives in the filthy hovels of unplanned cities

Hustle them away after they brazenly kill and then cowardly plead their innocence

Grant them peace when their very teeth, bones and eyes are simply worn out

Relieve those filled with anxiety, stress and aggression of their selfish cares

Take them in their golf carts, ATVs, dirt bikes, jet skis, RVs and snowmobiles

Help them to help themselves to escape the pending charges they are too ashamed to face

Cast the outsourcers aside as casually as they have cast off others for so many years

Deliver the women suffering lives of institutionalized tyranny and abuse

Remove the willfully obese with diabetes, stroke, coronaries and emphysema

Strike down these so-called leaders who say they simply give us what we want

Lead away in quiet peace those who have lost the partner of their lifetime

Grant mercy to a soldier who remains somewhat conscious in the wreckage

Take that faithful old dog by surprise when he can no longer gain his feet

Halt her vapid and indolent consumption with a marketer’s dream of heaven

Reap them as soon as they stop to enjoy the benefits of a lifetime of work

Find them alone in lonely beds in the middle of another long and empty night

Take them away when their over-extended mortgages exceed the value of their homes

Surprise them with the bright flash of their own improvised explosives

Fill them with the grace of innocence if they are born unable to survive

Bring them compassion too late and let them waste away on their shame

Take the doctors on their sleek yachts and the lawyers in fine restaurants

Let the duped but faithful at least pass on with smiles upon their faces

Show the true emptiness to those who head corporate religious franchises

Help the honest seeker see a beckoning light towards the end of his path

Take them suddenly at their offices still buried in pointless minutiae

Overcome all their objections and dole out their final sales commissions

Free them as they lock the poor more tightly into multi-generational despair

Steady their greedy hands that they succeed in their blind self-destruction

Take the brokers at their watering holes and the politicians at their spending troughs

Carry off the bipolar in an unaccustomed state of mild equanimity

Stop the workaholic in the middle of many unfinished and meaningless tasks

Simply grant the domestic animals a peaceful oblivion as they are led to the slaughter

Take them filled with craving for the latest fad gadget they wish to finance

Lead them gently off when they mutter insensibly and cannot recognize a spouse

Guide our hands to relieve those languishing in persistent vegetative states

Collaterally damage the generals in presumed safety with a friendly, yet deadly crossfire

Take the burglars outside our doors and let the sun shine upon their dead faces

Let the spinster hear the con man gurgle himself a last rite over her phone

Stop their hands just as they are grasping yet another hefty bailout bonus

Take away far too many fellow species but provide us with comforting rationalizations

Last One Liners

Passed away over coffee on vacation down in Flarida

Were killed when the vehicle in which they were riding

Expired at home surrounded by friends and family

Died later upon the operating table

Resuscitation efforts failed after the rescue

Drowned in bed from lung congestion

Found cool and stiff on the couch next morning

Probably never felt a thing

Succumbed to extensive multi-system trauma

Passed away quite suddenly without any prior history

Died at home after suffering long from the illness

Expired on the pavement from excessive blood loss

Mostly women and children killed in a crush at the famous mosque

Was ejected from the vehicle involved in a rollover

Went into shock and never regained consciousness

Choked to death on a food obstruction following a drunken laugh

Sudden onset while doing yard work, earlier this Spring

Inhaled his own vomit which stopped effective breathing

Darted out in front of a slowly passing car

Taken ill at a family gathering

Hemorrhaged rapidly from a burst aneurysm

Expired alone of unknown causes

Passed away at Good Faith Hospice

Pronounced dead below the embankment

Suffered a coronary during a morning swim

Dozed off and struck a large oak tree

Died from a previously undiagnosed allergy

Ruled an accidental overdose

Became the latest victim of the outbreak

pronounced dead by officials at the scene

expired later from several gunshot wounds

perished in her crib from unknown causes

collapsed and never said another word

struck by a vehicle turning in front of his motorcycle

investigators said alcohol may have been involved

stabbed repeatedly at a holiday gathering

beaten to death outside a liquor store

shot in an apparent robbery attempt

killed in a dispute over a drug deal gone bad

failed to negotiate the curve

names were not released pending notification of kin

conveyed to police Sunday at approximately 3:00 AM

reportedly the victim struck his head

listed officially as Dead Upon Arrival

honored an Advance Directive to withhold any treatment

recovered his body at a depth of approximately ten feet

forced to euthanize the victim’s over-protective dog

driver of the semi was cited for improper equipment

confirmed the killing of the US diplomat

showed signs of an extra-judicial execution

autopsy confirmed she died of strangulation

opened fire at a checkpoint and killed at least sixteen

suspected suicide bomb exploded outside the luxury hotel

One villager was killed and 10 others wounded by grenades

savaged her in a cheap blanket after she was strangled

both murder suspects were wounded and later captured

found unconscious in the apartment and later charged in her death

cause was believed to be a massive heart attack

have been publicly hanged where the bombings took place

suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic emphysema

cause of death not listed, pending a coroner’s report

following unrest six weeks ago

showed grainy images of the beheading

slaughtered thousands when the disease was confirmed

began again with acute chest pain triggered by chronic stress

died when a hospital lacked the supplies to treat him

Who kindly stays just out of sight?

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

Always Here For You, Too

I began my work shortly after the first organisms somehow appeared

          They did not last long and I was here to take them back

I know not from where I spring but my function is to return life to the void

          I travel everywhere that life goes - all those places but nowhere else

Without any feeling I relieve you of your every understanding

          I am not offended if you should not accept me, even in the end

I make no deals and cast no bargains and steal closer every single moment

          I have neither voice nor mercy and lack any mind to understand you

I am not cruel or happy and I merely see you off to a place where I can never go

          You cannot imagine me, you will not remember me and I do not know you

I am neither harsh nor cruel, but you can make of me what you will

          I attend your murders, suicides, plagues and starvation - all just alike

You need not fear me any more than you feared your long forgotten birth

          Horrid suffering and evil torture are not even what I am about

But, as pain and anguish may arrive before me, many welcome me in my time

          Often it appears that I am early, but there cannot ever be a mistake

I come to join you forever more to wherever it was that you once emerged

          Behold, I come to honor only the living and not for stone or water

Though I offer no form of gospel, none will be ignored, faithful or not

          Many seek to look beyond me but that is none of my concern

I spend moments with all the bugs, the birds and the plants as well as you

          I witness the end of every detail of the life force in all of the universe

Whether you pass away in silken sheets or bleeding out in filth, it matters not

          I take you away from all this, ignorant of the promises of your faiths

I always travel with you, but linger not a moment when you are gone

          You pass empty again into that void from which all life has surged

I am but a form emerging from your imagination of that which is beyond you

          I am that passage which rejoins you once again with the inanimate

I do not revel in your mass slaughters, and each and every one still gets their moment

          Famine, plague and war summon me to many places, all at once

I am universal and have been unavoidable ever since the first living cell

          I have no face, but your imaginations have lent me many images

The very fact that I am always there goads many into fevered actions

          Regardless of the acts or players the final scene must be the same

I know nothing of the hopeless struggle in which you so joyfully partake

          But be sure that I, too, should love life, for without it, neither do I exist

I have spawned the faith which quiets your lonely desperation

          Truth be told, you need no faith to draw strength from my absolute certainty

I mark the entropy which must always counter the organization of the life force

          When I began and my ultimate future are questions I cannot ask        

All your gods demand belief that will ensure your spirit survives your body

          any post-mortem accounting of such faiths do not affect my actions

I am not alive and I have no soul or consciousness but I am only for the living

          They represent me with skulls but these are as simple stones to me

I can know nothing of your actions, history, families or your dearest beliefs

          There is no lingering on my part when once the life has left you

I am a shadow passing at the start of a dreamless sleep from which there is no awakening

          I cannot answer any questions and am unable to foster any illusions

I am here for you, be you rich or poor, ugly or handsome, young or very old

          I will not mock you and I know nothing of so-called good and evil

I walk always in your shadow until that moment in which we are briefly joined

          I promise you nothing except the absolute certainty of our meeting

Some beg for mercy but I have no way of listening or any kind of understanding

          I arrive at the very end of every lifetime and join it for but an instant

I know nothing of saviors, re-incarnation, souls or the great wheel of life

          I do not learn and, for me, time does not exist

I cannot retain any memories, just like you once were and will forever be

          Quantum chance always summons me because nothing is really scripted

Even though you witness me time and again, my mystery always remains

          You understand the biology but the metaphysics will forever remain beyond you