the shoe to drop

 

afraid of dying

I have been afraid of dying most of my conscious life,

when I first realized sleep existed, I was scared,

for nothingness, absence grabbed me,

until I re-emerged, if I didn't "die before I wake,"

then around my fourteenth birthday

suddenly Daddy wasn't there any more,

and I, and my brothers, figured the mid 50s

was the limit of our life-span, maybe less,

for one of my brothers it was even less, for he died at 49,

often now my psyche warns me

that the shoe is definitely going to drop,

and maybe soon.

by Henry H. Walker

November 25, ‘25