Don't count on Heaven, or on Hell.
You're dead. That's it. Adieu. Farewell.
Eternity awaits? Oh, sure!
It's Putrefaction and Manure
And unrelenting Rot, Rot, Rot,
As you regress, from
Zoo. to
Bot.
I'll Grieve, of course,
Departing wife,
Though Grieving's never
Lengthened Life
Or coaxed a single extra Breath
Out of a Body touched by Death.
--- "The Biologist's Valediction to His Wife"
from
Offcuts by Sherwin Stephens
This is excellent -- As you regress, from
Zoo. to
Bot. First I didn't get it, but then when I did I said ooooh, this is very clevah.
As you regress, from Imp to Bot -- and that adds an extra touch to it
Btw, MDG, if you get your book Being Dead, check it out, it's in there, written by Jim Crace himself, of course, shamdy, there's no poet named Sherwin Stephens.