For Mal Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

My life has gone so quickly,
and suddenly, my God!
I woke up very sickly
it was my aging bod.

I've always been a dancer
I even learned the Twist
and now it is the cancer
that put me on his list.

He came up to my table
I didn't want to dance.
I said I wasn't able
but he had his demands.

He took me on the stage
taught me another dance
and then he turned the page
I didn't have a chance.

A knock on my oak portal
it was that skinny Reaper
he said 'You silly mortal
I will now be your keeper.'

He took me as a dancer
right to the Pearly Gate
I left behind my cancer
and made an early date.

There was an angel, pretty
she eyed me with a glance,
and I was feeling witty
and asked her for a dance.

So, greetings to all dancers
that stayed back on the ground
don't fear those nasty cancers
just dance another round.

And thanks for all the flowers
the funeral and all
I lasted many hours
before my final fall.

But friends were standing with me
that meant an awful lot
to those of you who miss me
forgotten you are not.