Now you may have heard you’re already dead

Let me tell you something

I’ve seen a lot of dead people walking around

And you’re not that bad yet

Reflexes a little slow, maybe

Eyes a little foggy

Dumb as a post

Dumb things can be good

In silence

Sometimes there’s wisdom

I wish I could tell you so many things

About how to live

Make this a self-help poem

Full of nutrition

And exercises

To thrive

But that’s not why I came

It’s a warning, you know

About what you may have heard

And what I can’t say

And what you don’t want to know

Dead, or alive

Let’s say I loved you

Doesn’t matter

But let’s say I did

And this was the last time we spoke

And this message

No matter how insane

Or irrelevant

Or sappy

Would be recorded

Maybe not cherished

But saved

So I have to condense it down

And put only the most important piece

Into your ear

I know what you lost

In some ways,

I know better than you do

And I know what you still have

That tribal thing, you know

Like a bad case of laundry

Or a devil who just won’t shut up

Hemorrhage

Or tinnitus

The rattling of the cage

Doesn’t matter

I know

It doesn’t matter what you lost

Even though it pains me

And it doesn’t matter what you still have

Not one bit

What matters is what you may yet gain

And I don’t mean heaven or hell

But the earth

This earth may yet be gained

Like you might gain 20 pounds

Enough to be comfortable

Or you might gain a lover

Ugly as hell

But kind

Or you might gain wisdom

Like a nail into your head

And I’ll be sitting beside you

Whispering into your ear