BOOKENDS OF FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF A LIFE

DEATH BECOMES A ROCK STAR

Already long famous,
Death decided to go
for even more renown.

So Death put together
a rock band with Chance
on the drums, Grief
on bass guitar and Regret
on the saxophone!
[An instrument Death
loved for its cool, oh so
impersonal tone….]

All day and all night
Death sings one song
after another, you might
say an infinity of songs
yet Death never sings
the same song twice--

you see, Death thinks
every soul should have
its own song since each
soul writes the lyrics
and composes the notes
for Death to sing one day.

There’s Something To Be Said For A Poet Who Is Dead

There’s something to be said
for a poet who is dead
because
for a poet who is dead
there’s something said
in the words his magic
wraps as gifts to your
breathing mind--
so when life makes you
feel trapped and small,
soon
you’ll feel your soul
grow in his poetry--
how kind!

The Holly Tree

We have a large holly tree
in our backyard--
is it foolish to say
you love a tree?

For thirty years
I’ve watched that tree grow,
doubling in size after
we cut down a big oak
to make way for a patio,
thus freeing the holly tree
of its growth-inhibiting shade,
and letting the sun
pull it slowly upwards
into its own magnificence.

Nolo Segundo, pen name of retired teacher L.J. Carber, became a published poet in his 8th decade in over 240 literary journals in 21 countries and 3 collections published in softcover by Cyberwit.net: THE ENORMITY OF EXISTENCE; OF ETHER AND EARTH; and SOUL SONGS. These titles reflect an awareness he gained over 50 years ago when he had an NDE whilst nearly drowning: That he has--is--a consciousness predating birth and surviving death, what poets since Plato have called the soul.