Ready!
written by: Luiz Syphre
@poetandkids
The day I die, I shall be here at the ready…for Death will not leave the stables unannounced!
When that day dawns and I hear the clattering of the horse’s shoes out in the barn, I will be dressed in my finest suit, with all my affairs in order and ready for the Knight’s embrace.
Hours before the Rider mounts the Beast and hunts my soul, I will have done my goodbyes with Kin and Friends.
For the day I die, I shall be here at the ready! prepared to see my beautiful Mother and my Father by her side, unafraid of my next life…excited about events here to unfold!
The Raven will have cried at dusk, announcing the Pale Rider’s coming at midnight and I alone will hear the weeping bird…and those eerie sounds will prelude my dispatch to the ready.
For I won’t fear the fading of the light! This light that nears the black, with a fleeing dim, disappearing just for me.
This ready I’ll perform in peace, as I’m tired, lonely and aching to now part. The knight, I promise, will never have such a willing participant to meet his mortality. The rhythm of the galloping hooves will grow louder as the Beast nears my door, and there I’ll be, as ready as can be.
I will not retract from the fading glow. Rather, when the pale figure enters my home, I will scream with joy:
“Oh! I’ve missed you Mother!, I’ve missed you Father!”
There I’ll stand at the ready, and the squawking of the bird will show he’s at my doorstep, and I won’t flinch or evade, even as the dim dims!
You’ll be proud Mama!, you’ll be proud Father!
The Beast’s snout will breathe on me! I will feel the wetness of its breath upon my neck as it draws closer! The stench of death will permeate my spirit.
The Rider will wait for my last plea for life… but it shall never come!
No!
Instead, I will give him his first loving embrace after I see to his dismount and shout:
“I STOOD HERE AT THE READY! AS I’M TIRED, LONELY AND ACHING NOW TO PART!”
Luiz D. Syphre © 2017
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