When Death stopped by

When Death stopped by,
I had to apologize,
"I'm not up for entertaining -
I'm busy with dying
And'm not at my best."
He waved a bottle of rye.
"Come in!" I cried,
"Don't be shy!".

Life'd come early,
("Go away!" I'd said, "I'm busy!
I don't yet know if I care for this air!"
But his promises were rosy,
His agreements seemed fair...),
When Death arrived
They made a fine pair.

Death turned on the game.
He took out his cellphone
And called in a bet,
Then loudly second guessed:
("What shithead calls a pass
On such a short down!")
And cursed the ref:
("Unnecessary roughness?
You fucking nearsighted clown!")
Life wore his brotherly frown.
Death offered the bottle,
Life just passed it on.
When that one was killed
Death started another.
Bet lost, Death flipped the channels,
A chainsaw movie was what he found.
Later, Death grew maudlin and teary,
Sang old ballads
About love stupid kids
In souped up hot cars.
Life suppressed a groan.

They didn't notice,
Being busy with each other,
When I took the bottle and left.

Up on the hospital's roof
I sat watching the night.
I looked at the bridges
I looked at the river,
I looked at the lights on the water.
I wished you'd come to my party!
I haven't seen you in years.
I remember we went drinking one night
Wound up in a bar high up a tower,
The whole city spread out before us
Human art at its most glorious.
We were of course just friends,
You were living with another,
Still right then I felt happy,
Brim full with bittersweet beauty.

When the horizon grew bright,
Only the bottle lay in sight.