chagall backdrop

I’m scheduled to die on this gorgeous day,
the window open, cool breeze, blown curtain,
knowing the morning’s about to begin,
life in and out, crossing paths on the way.
So much poetry that I’ve yet to say,
so many places that I’ve never been,
encircled there by sobbing next of kin,
the priest has just arrived, it’s time to pray.

I stop them before the sign of the cross,
“Today is absolutely not my time,
too much sunshine.”  So I ask them to leave.
I shower, I shave, I brush, and I floss,
I dance a jitterbug, compose a rhyme,
jot the names of those not showing to grieve.

© Carlos Chagall, 2013