A Conversation with Death

 

 

I had a conversation with Death

But not in the way you think,

It was not a near-death experience-

I was never on the brink.

 

I was not on a hospital bed

With tubes sticking out all over me,

Neither was I on my death-bed

With my demise soon to be.

 

I was very much in the flesh

And as conscious as they come

Thinking with lucidity and clarity

During that conversation.

 

I raised some issues with Death

Which I shall detail below,

I know this is not the best of topics

But hear me out before you go.

 

Inconsiderateness came up-

This was high on the list

And death was careful to point out

That he has never had a miss.

 

He didn’t care about anyone

Or their particular circumstance,

You could be a vagrant on the street

Or be living on a ranch.

 

You may be the poorest of the poor

Or the richest of the rich,

When I come a-calling, he said,

None can make me switch.

 

Untimely was another aspect

That I asked death to talk about

But after listening very carefully

I had to throw this out.

 

“Untimely?” he repeated the word,

“Where did you hear that?

I am on time, in time all the time

And history shows this fact.

 

It matters not your age or stage,

That is not my concern,

It’s not untimely but appointed-

That you have got to learn.

 

I take babies in their cribs

And I abort them in the womb,

People’s grouses never ever matter

I don’t allow any wiggle room.”

 

 

“How do you view?” I asked Death,

“The notion of negotiation?”

“It just doesn’t exist," he replied,

"I only know about termination.”

 

“So, what about people

Who went ever so close to death?”

“The bottom line is, my friend,

It was not their time to rest.

 

If it were, he continued,

They too would have been gone,

Understand, I don’t miss appointments,

Not a single one.”

 

“Some people pray and fast

When their loved ones are dying

And they attribute such recoveries

To their degree of praying.”

 

When I posed this to Death,

I was sure that I had him nailed

But Death’s response was so sharp,

I knew that I had failed.

 

 

“Don’t you know the Word?”

And if you do, don’t you believe it?

A time is appointed, the Bible says,

And that’s a biblical edict!

 

I simply do what I do,” he said,

“Death’s not mine to control

Though, given the many ways I come,

People say I must be bold.”

 

And this is true, I realize,

It is at the most inopportune time

That Death stops people in their tracks

When he’s not even on their mind.

 

I dared to ask one final question

Knowing Death must be on his way

For at no point did I ever forget

That every day is Death’s day.

 

Whether locally or regionally

Or across the far-flung world,

Many are reeling under Death’s impact

As his fury is daily unfurled.

 

“Will you be always around?”

This was the final question I asked,

“Or will you suffer a similar fate as well

And be relegated to the past?”

 

Of course, I knew the answer

But I had only asked Death for so

And you too can know the answer

For it is not difficult to know.

 

Turn with me right now

To 1 Corinthians 15: 25 and 26

And you will see there the promise given

When Death will also be fixed.

 

“For he must reign,” meaning Jesus,

“Till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed

Is DEATH.”

 

I am fully convinced that one day

Death will also come my way,

I too will go the way of all the earth

On that appointed day.

 

How or when that will happen,

I really do not know

But I know a resurrection awaits

When Death will have to go.

 

Stewart Russell © March 22, 2023