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
