When the time comes and I must die,

(Unsurprisingly, there's no date for when).

Gathered family weep, may even cry.

For this life, lived and loved, amen.

 

Will I die lying in my bed?

Peacefully, restfully, within my home,

Will friends encircle my soft final breath?

Or slabbed in the morgue all alone.

 

I'd prefer to die in slumber.

My lover and I entwined, fast asleep.

Hedonistic pleasures, consummated.

Arms and legs in a sweaty heap

 

I’ve wanted to die of old age.

I'm here now and I'm not sure I'm ready.

I need at least another sixty years.

Take someone else instead of me.

 

There are many ways I could go.

Honestly, I hope that I'll never know.

Keen not to await a malignancy,

Drawing out death, slower than slow.

 

Possibly I would take the plunge.

Head south to the bastion cliffs of Dover.

A potential vehicular fireball

driving to the edge, then over.

 

If I could have a choice, a say,

When life and I are finally parted,

Whichever possibility I choose,

I'm sure that I'd be downhearted.

 

I'm aware of ways not to die.

Dancing wildly in a packed discotheque

cold moorland walk without a winter coat

Sitting bored watching Ant and Dec.

 

The final moments of our world

Caught in a nuclear atomic bomb blast

Unsympathetic and unforgiving

soon burnt to a crisp in a flash.

 

Not choking on a T-bone steak

Neither wasp sting nor an allergic bite

Nor an excess of socialist voters

Attack stage left, whilst I looked right.

 

Our lives will end. They will end far too soon.

We rush headlong from cradle to grave.

Frantically, we seek an elixir.

But longevity’s lost to those that crave

 

We can map life's journey and destiny.

Choosing our own highways to navigate

Listen only to yourself, not others.

It's not their life, so don't life abdicate

 

Don't regret achieved experiences

Those moments are in your past, not ahead.

Regret those moments yet unaccomplished

There's no rerun to life once you are dead.