In a few minutes I will die
and I am happy with the knowledge of my death

Whereas you are unhappy not knowing when your
time will come

I have a short time to make my peace with God
and no time left to commit more mistakes
asking forgiveness with every breath

Whereas time stretches out before you under
many arches and over many hills with
temptations at every side to taste and err in

I’m filled with joy whose roses bloom with every heartbeat
each second that passes a sweet dispensation
direct from God’s hands in giant glorious waves of light

I see with my eyes but I’m blind to this world
which has become a one-way tunnel to my
meeting with my Lord

Whereas your sight wanders everywhere
anxious that a sudden blow from behind might
blacken your life
or a fire break out and consume house and
family all the photos and trinkets you’ve picked up along the way

I’ve let all these things drift from me one by one
in a great wind that is blowing me
from in front of me whose puckered lips and ballooning
cheeks are from God alone Who’s impatient for our
meeting and Who’s bringing me to Him in a
special limousine filled with jasmine petals and pages
from His holy books now as translucent as light
and as breathable as air itself

My heart tolls like a bell

My feet and hands tingle with expectation

My body arches forward
whereas yours shrinks back afraid of the
death’s head whose grin turns everything to stone

I’m about to be silenced at last with
no more words to trap me

But you have many more “hellos” and “goodbyes” left
and must take care in every case to fashion sentences that touch
each soul with love rather than hate or hurt

I shall lose this head of mine
and enter the hall of the heart

singing

You shall go home to silence like the tomb
and make petty conversation

while I sing God’s praises with open eyes
and no more blemishes

Here take this shirt to comfort you
and this kiss

Farewell