༺ bucket ༻

cancer pneumonia
HIV
choking on a bun
with your cup of tea
tripping on the carpet
falling down the stairs
the light turns red
catch you unawares

everybody’s gotta die
but we’re still alive

fall from the ladder
and your back is broke
the house catches fire
you go up in smoke
your arteries are furred
you block a ventricle
an ovary a lung
a breast a testicle

everybody’s gotta die
but we’re still alive

thrown from the train
stabbed in the back
you lend your kidneys to a friend
and you don’t get ’em back
a heart attack a stroke
the wrong injection
take viagra
get a fatal erection

everybody’s gotta die
but we’re still alive

the perils of life
are crowding in upon us
don’t sit on my lap
if you’re a hippopotamus
it started with a kiss
and ended up in homicide
nothing seemed amiss
except a certain whiff of cyanide

everybody’s gotta die
but we’re still alive

dangle from a rope
a hand-full of pills
slipping on the ice
the winter kills
we all gotta die
we’re all on the clock
reach 98 and your

heart

just

stop