Monitor Poem by Leah DeCresce

dark as death,
corpselike sleep reigns over me.
a distant oblivion,
a glimpse of the horizon.

The rise & fall of shallow breaths,
a heartbeat stirs inside it's prison.
I am just a blip on the monitor.
Just a sudden scare, crisis averted.

You've put him off for one more day,
but the Reaper's presence draws closer.
Each exhale, every inhale- there's no chance to start anew.
I can't be recharged like a car battery.

Life passes by as we sleep, eat, breathe.
I'm watching it in your rearview mirror,
wondering who will slow down first-
you or Father Time?

In the end, it all catches up.
Every mistake I made along the way, reminding me
that I am, in fact, a simple human.

Time waits for no one, and death is always watching.

[6.3.09]