Death Doesn’t Care

 

 

 

Death doesn’t care where you live

Or who you are,

His appointment with you is preset;

That could be near or far.

 

Your money doesn’t matter,

You cannot bribe death,

You cannot buy another minute

Or another breath.

 

Your pedigree doesn’t matter

And neither does your age,

The grim reaper can come a-calling

At any stage.

 

Future prospects may be good

And great things await

But death may decide to visit you

On a romantic date.

 

 

You could be at the movies

Or perhaps watching a game,

Death can just crash you parade

Without as much as a pain.

 

Death just doesn’t care

It is just the way he operates,

He displays absolutely no emotions:

Neither love nor hate.

 

It could be at the breakfast table

That he will come a-knocking

Of that planned sumptuous Sunday lunch

He would just be blocking.

 

Death could visit on a plane

Or just as easily in a car

And all your carefully made plans

Death would just mar.

 

 

There is none more unpredictable

Than the grim reaper,

He can turn the strongest man

Into a permanent sleeper.

 

Death is the most misunderstood

Phenomenon I know

And if he has any emotions

They just do not show.

 

Kings and the commoner

The filthy rich and the dirty poor,

He comes unannounced

And he will push your door.

 

We say he comes a-knocking

But that is not always true,

Whether on a sickbed or suddenly

He will come to you.

 

Whether you are a happy person

Or often sad and blue,

As long as you are alive

Your death visit is due.

 

 

You may accuse me of being morbid

If so, I am guilty as charge

But be aware of this one certainty

Your demise is at large.

 

If you are already dead

Then there is no need to worry,

Death will find you sooner or later

He doesn’t have to hurry.

 

More than once it has been said

That someone had cheated death,

But his number had not come up

Or else he would be at rest.

 

Rest in peace is what I mean

And interred in yonder cemetery

For not even Jesus cheated death

Though he rose triumphantly.

 

If you have a minute to spare

Pick up your Bible and read Genesis 5

There you will find the repeated phrase:

And he died and he died.

 

This phrase came again and again

Except for young Enoch,

Death came a-calling on the others

But Enoch, he could not block.

 

In the words of Holy Writ,

God took him, whatever this means,

We are led to believe he did not die-

He was translated off this scene.

 

Death just doesn’t care, I reiterate,

Whether you are a woman or man,

One of these good days my number will call

And he’ll whisk me away as planned.

 

Remember, that “me” means you

If you are reading this poem,

Hopefully you will complete this verse

Before death becomes a problem.

 

Death doesn’t care about you or me,

He just does what he does best,

And one of these days, unknown to us,

We too will be laid to rest.

 

Stewart Russell © March 5, 2023