Experiencing Death

 

 

Quite misleading

Is this chosen title

But for the purpose of this poem,

It is pertinently vital.

 

All that experience birth

Will experience death,

I heard this iterated recently

But couldn’t let it rest.

 

Give it some thought

And see if it rings true,

It may be so for case number 1

But not case number 2.

 

At someone’s funeral

I’m sure you’d have heard

“All of us will experience death”

During the preached word.

 

And you’d have nodded

In the affirmative

Since such is surely confirmed

By all who lived.

 

I don’t want to contend

The veracity of this

But to draw to your attention

Something you missed.

 

Check experiencing

And see what it means,

Check it in a dictionary and tell me

What you glean.

 

To experience something

Is to be alive and alert

And since in death we are neither

Experience cannot work.

 

 

Experiencing dying

I can certainly understand

But death is void of feelings

On the other hand.

 

I have watched a few

In their last moments here:

One of them was unconscious

But two were aware.

 

These two were conscious

They were about to depart

And the way both of them went,

Touched my heart.

 

They experienced dying

But certainly not death,

Death is said to have occurred

After one’s last breath.

 

Thus, impossible I say,

To experiencing death

And you certainly will not either

When you are at rest.

 

Stewart Russell © March 17, 2025