When death follows
haunts
chases after you,
leaving no escape,
how can you not be tortured
by the doom of fate?
How could you just brush it off
discount it
outrun it,
have it be enough?
Could you –
even if you wanted to?
How could you not
see it in every periphery
hear it in each reverie
smell it sneaking up behind you
taste it in your sustenance
feel its darkness
always in your presence?
With fear and resolve,
you refrain from reaching out
to the shadows that surround,
where you know
it waits for you
in every thought
in every doubt.
Yet what else can you do
but seek to follow
where it goes
try to stay one step ahead
hoping to understand
and know?
If not that,
you must let go,
allow yourself
to be nevermore,
succumb
to its impending clutches,
leaving fate to decide
the eternal score.