WHAT WE EXPECT FROM THE DYING
We expect the slowly dying
to play a role.
Not to be angry,
to reminiscence about their
youth and their time
with us, to make an example
of a good death
so that we can lie to ourselves
that they have accepted
their fate and are ready
to go, that we can let them
pass from our lives,
to become fading memories.
We would be upset
if they would make scenes,
rage and cry against
the end to all.
We would be upset
and thus observe them
for the signs
that they might
not stick to the script.
For our own sake
we are ready to comfort,
to avoid facing
the raw emotions of the dying.
Little do we think
(we dare not),
that one day we,
like those on the scaffold
once, have to play
this role for the sake of those
whose own death sentence
is still unsigned.
That then we must not upset
and must follow
the script
to the fading of thought.
The soon dead,
forced into playing a role,
for the sake of those
who have yet to accept
that they too
shall die. Audience
yearning katharsis
and the one with
the noose around the neck
to provide it for them.
Yet one by one the audience
ascends to the scaffold
and stands on the trap-door.
Then standing on it,
when the learned doctors
have read the sentence
and placed the noose,
we shall know
the role well,
having seen it played
so many times
by people
who then
themselves
are fading memories.
08.02.2020
