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
