There’s a joke that ends with — huh?

It’s the bomb saying here is your father.

Now here is your father inside

your lungs. Look how lighter

the earth is — afterward.

To even write father

is to carve a portion of the day

out of a bomb-bright page.

There’s enough light to drown in

but never enough to enter the bones

& stay. Don’t stay here, he said, my boy

broken by the name...

On the lee slope of the small coastal mountain

which conceals the sun the first hour after its rising,

in the dry, steep ravines, the live

mist of the heat is seething like dust

left over from an earlier world.

A crow with a swimmer's shoulders works

the air. And a little bird flies up into a

tree and closes its wings, like a blossom

folded up into a bud again.

In the distance is a very o...

Do not be bitter when I come for you,

For I must come like a cold December wind,

Dreaded, as is a winter’s day,

Nevertheless, I must descend.

Think not of me as malice, a thief in the night,

But as the hand that gathers fallen leaves,

Homecoming, a soldiers final fight.

A promise kept, a bittersweet release.

Though shadows lengthen with each step I take,

And fear May whisper tales of endless ...

I don’t have that much to say, so do not see me in this way.

I only have a list for you, I hope you’ll find it useful, too.

Read carefully, and please do heed these words that I give, indeed.

For all you need to know to rest is some words of advice from your friend, Death.

1. Think of me often. No, I’m not kidding, think of your coffin.

If you do, you’ll daily remember that January is a blink fr...

1. Don’t confide in her

She’ll just explode

2. Don’t hug her

She’ll feel embarrassed

3. Don’t express love

It’ll make her sad

4. Don’t cry

It’ll make her powerful

5. Don’t feel

It’ll make her uncomfortable

6. Don’t love

Even though you’re together

It’s too much feeling

7. Don’t express disliking

It’ll make her mad

Life lessons from someone who died for you

I loved you

I lived for you

And...

I've seen more lives than you could fathom

The immortal life of a stygian phantom

I've seen the strongest of man crumble,

And only I could make them humble.

I've seen the broken learn to survive,

Just to die before they thrive

Good or bad when your time has come,

Ill be there when you succumb.

I am not in the pursuit of life,

Nor to rid the world of strife.

My only job to steal your breath,

creat...

Desiccated husks

In soaking soil

Anemic leaves heave pitifully

Tucked in dim corners

Lifting yellowing branches to the light

I check for sticky puffs of pests

Dipping my index from pot to pot

I move from desert to tropics

I learn from the losing

The roots rotted and

The pots that slip from my hands

Flaccid stems, exhausted leaves sleep on willing soil

Over sunburnt leaves

I learn about sur...

You’re next!

Death reminds us that there’s a countdown until our own demise.

It haunts us !

Makes us question stupid things like existence,

purpose.

Making us nervous....

Everything in life can be recycled

Everything exists to be used

and reused

and reused

by each other

transformed

and informed

and absorbed

by one another

From the earliest stars

to the bones beneath the earth,

eroded and scarred,

It's all the same.

It's all

a puzzle

dumped out of a box by an unruly child

and strewn about in pieces on the floor

You are simply the current way these pieces come to...

Some people come to me unexpectedly, suddenly and I’m not always prepared for them. It’s like when someone suggests that you hang out in an hour but your not ready yet and are caught off guard. Sometimes I’m not ready for certain people to finish the race, and I know they’re not either.

Unfortunately, I’ve had to come to the conclusion that sometimes life truly is just too short and sometimes l...