One Day

   
Now I know how the Jews must have felt
watching quietly in fear
wondering when the bolt will shake
waiting for the door to splinter
before time judders on its rope
and the universe lies unhinged
 
The neighborhood
seems filled with
clever
young
successful
arty types
not yet ready to worry
or maybe no-one
quite recalls
just who puts out the trash
or plucks the dregs
from the era before
 
One day the unmarked trucks
must lumber in
driven by the young
to make room for more
an army culling age
clipboard efficiency
reducing lifetimes
beyond the allotted span
to a landfill bag
of bones
  
Just let me  
die first  
still able to feed myself  
remembering my medicine  
and wiping my own drool  
before my screams cripple the night  
before I'm a burden upon you all  
a blight on the future's dignity  
scorned by failing years.