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Untitled (a draft) (Free verse) by rnuk
They'd brought back, for a change
(or perhaps it was simply to create the situation below),
beheading.
Outrage! many cried, and barbaric!
While a quiet few said "about time"
But many were of the opinion that this could be
A Good Thing
They saw sudden, mortally proportioned death as an invitation
to study the abyss
if that was what it was
It could very well be a rose garden, some would mention
A chance to definitely and discretely
define life
To place a full stop at the end of one's final breath
as if to say
"There. My sentence in history has been written."
One of these men
(we'll call him Albert, his crime, if you can call it that, is of no
consequence)
was prepared for the event, but for one single thing.
His legacy.
There was no way, he was sure, that he could experience
the remnants and the aftermath of his existence
being, as he would be, quite quite dead.
And so he came to realise that he must savour
for himself and himself only
what had now been determined
as his last moments alive.
He'd asked that his head
be placed in a jar
full to the brim
with WHISKY.
Partly
"just in case" he would say
and partly
"to show that rogue Damien Hirst that being dead and in bits
is no excuse not to do things in style"
His head was placed
under a shining blade
the crowd (neither booing nor cheering)
studied intently Albert
and each other.
Albert did not put on a show
he remained quiet
and thought to himself
nothing
Quickly, he thought, it can't be like this
I can't end so quickly
having learnt
so little
Think think think
but of what?
and as the blade came down
his pnultimate thought
(which he thought were his last)
concerned the rather tricky 7 down
in that morning's crossword
Huh. He thought
shrugging a shoulderless shrug
How disappointingly apt.
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