Death, Sneaking Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

The celebration starts
Music, dance, food
move to please the
human appetites,

Music lulls the mind
like the mermaids
numbing the mind
of sailors and Odysseus.

The dance stops
as the music ceases
to be replayed
and given ear.

The food is consumed
And what remain
on the common table
are empty bowls.

Death sneaks and hisses
It chokes life to halt and cease
Like music, dance and food,
death claims its own hiding place.