Some claim after our final breath
a soul survives the body’s death
and some kind of an afterlife begins.

Other’s say that when we die
and utter our last earthly cry
we’re dust and just wind up in garbage bins!

I think it may well be the case
that when we leave the human race
the details of departure are what matter.

For one can leave the mortal plane
in total peace or with great pain,
silently or with a bang or splatter.

A gas main leaks, a match is lit
and that will be the end of it
for some unlucky guy that’s near the leak.

A forlorn lover on a ledge
quite high above the walk and hedge
just slips and meets an end he did not seek.

Now will that first bloke blown to bits
now separated from his tits
ascend to heaven and be full and whole?

Will the chap who yearned to cuddle
that now is just a sidewalk puddle
retain a healthy fully intact soul?

The fact is that we just don’t know.
It’s a mystery where we go.
A scary, cruel and baffling final joke.

Fade, dissolve, reincarnate,
ascend in some true blissful state?
We don’t know what happens when we croak.

Perhaps the best approach to take
is take life slowly, for heaven’s sake!
It doesn’t help to rush ahead and worry.

If we return to dust, that’s swell!
But if we’re headed to a fiery hell
the last thing that we ought to do is hurry!