End Of Life

If you could see

(as I have seen)

the final, desperate gasps

of life, worn and deathly sheen

but clinging to the last;

if you could taste

the bitter breaths

from lungs beyond repair

and feel the thud of useless blood

and meet that empty stare

my friend, you would not speak with such high zeal

of sanctity

and playing God

and talk of slippery slopes

no matter what beleaguered flesh can feel

and no matter what it hopes.