Way to Go - 1.

Way to Go - 1    (The way we die now.)

                                                      Barra de Navidad.Dec 30,2006

In North America, we do not die;
Death is out of fashion in our time.
Apart from terrorist events or mishap,
We have abolished death; it's not a thing
That's done by decent people any more.

It still occurs in movies, or the slums
--Not that we have slums, you understand --
Rather, say, in districts which attract
Transients lacking proper documents
And such as tend to live outside the law;
And, even there, consensus guarantees
A future life where all bets are paid off;
Which means, in our case, where we may expect
To be rewarded for our good intentions.

Nor do our troops invariably return
From doing good in sundry foreign parts;
From some is asked  the supreme sacrifice
(Not to be confused with dusty death)
To save their country from a few fanatics
Who hate our freedom and our way of life.

The rest of us, the ordinary people,
Backbone of the nation, middle class,
Whenvv portents indicate our time has come,
Encouraged by both clergy and the weatherstate,
Surrounded, if we're lucky, by our loved ones,
Or in a seniors' residence, alone --
Which some may think is preferable, at that --
Ready and willing to do the decent thing,
We close the current chapter, and Pass On.

3
(N.B. To avoid misunderstanding, this is a poem, not a political tract.
Political opinions, expressed or implied, are not necessarily those of
the author.)
"Way To Go -2" may be found in the folder, "Recent Poetry 2007".