On Mortality (Two Poems)

01/22/09

Vestige

Laughter -- may it be the final reception,
the song that ushers the end, my enduring
requiem. When old age renders
an encompassing fading,
when the mind is but a string

of shivered echoes
in the interim of counted breaths
unadorned, bereft
of words, I hope that however sparse
the remainder of substance would cling

to accompany my mind through
the whirr and blur of letting
go, I could still firmly
preserve the one
memory -- the last I would need

to recognize the tilt, list and lilt
of the sound I have known
to be my own voice: that once,
many times it danced, streaking
chords of homespun joy.



06/10/06 (now reposted)


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A Night of Payment

Our dear loanshark,
eternally you impose
a staggered payment
scheme on all of us
walking debts.
We borrow what we forget
you own; we owe
interest
with laughter and jest as currency,
and for all the audacity we muster with age

we never can tell
when the next payment is due.

I, for one, am silenced
for the time being
and no richer than the night
that rents its coat from you.




02/13/08 (now reposted)


* Mortality has been a recurring theme in my poetry, over the years. Not that I'm suicidal, perpetually depressed or goth-inclined. (grin) It's just that, well, this is a topic that's inevitably linked to most philosophical discussions and writings. My interest in philosophy, then, I reckon, is the key to why mortality (as an umbrella subject) keeps popping in my head when I write. And, given that I value variety as regards my poems, I try to make sure that, despite the number of 'death pieces' I write, no two are really similar (with regard to voice/mood, content/story, etc.). Which brings us to the two poems above -- a couple of old ones, with a touch of generality, both mentioning "laughter," and differing in, well... (I leave that up to reader interpretation). Cheers.




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posted by S.L. Corsua