Life versus Death

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

The doom of death was a shadow compared to the raging destiny of life, the determined surge of life.  ~ D. H. Lawrence, The Man who Died

To say that death is but a shadow on

The universe is like a whispered lie,

Especially if the speaker is no pawn

But known as uninfected by B’hai

Or other fuzziness of thought.  The flood

Of life on earth swamps like a fate, immense,

And yet a destiny more like the mud

In Noah’s time.  The cosmos knows that dense

Destruction crushes everywhere in time.

Our tiny speck is nothing in the vast

Vile vacuum* that kills.  The rest is slime

At best and nothingness, chomped stars aghast.

  Death far outweighs the trickle of earth’s life.

    The rest is measureless and ruthless strife.

*  This word is enunciated in three syllables.

© Phillip Whidden