Assemble, Reassemble
©December 3rd, 2019
By Vijaya Sundaram
©December 3rd, 2019
By Vijaya Sundaram
I sense Death hovering close by.
This I cannot shake off.
I turn and look, but he isn’t there.
I feel him seeking to claim me,
Standing right next to the cells
Within my slowly aging body,
Millions of little Deaths, all waiting
With a finger on the off-switch,
Waiting to turn things off, as if Death’s
Curious to see what would happen,
(As if it’s never happened before),
Eager to turn things off in me,
Then play alone in the dark,
With the unceasing snow
Coming down, down, down,
As he tries to assemble and
Reassemble all the scattered atoms
Of an escaped consciousness.
While my body lies there,
Switched off, anima and animus all fled.
It must be a lonely business,
The business of switching things off.
Meanwhile that *I* that was
And the *I* that will be
Pass each other somewhere in time,
And do not nod in recognition
When they collide in the *I* that am.
And Death looks the other way.
The suspense is killing me,
And I cannot wait.
I turn and look, but he isn’t there.
I feel him seeking to claim me,
Standing right next to the cells
Within my slowly aging body,
Millions of little Deaths, all waiting
With a finger on the off-switch,
Waiting to turn things off, as if Death’s
Curious to see what would happen,
(As if it’s never happened before),
Eager to turn things off in me,
Then play alone in the dark,
With the unceasing snow
Coming down, down, down,
As he tries to assemble and
Reassemble all the scattered atoms
Of an escaped consciousness.
While my body lies there,
Switched off, anima and animus all fled.
It must be a lonely business,
The business of switching things off.
Meanwhile that *I* that was
And the *I* that will be
Pass each other somewhere in time,
And do not nod in recognition
When they collide in the *I* that am.
And Death looks the other way.
The suspense is killing me,
And I cannot wait.
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