Life & Death Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

Night sounds whisper in my ears.

They tell me grave-yard stories of people

buried deep in punt-trenches. Howling dogs

mutilate the darkness.

Tonight xenophobia lingers in the air.

Death with fragile bones

stir flame between man and beast.

They say someone will die tonight.

If you stand on their grave. Me, too.

I am Life making mockery and mirth.

How can Death pierce the cold silence

with sepulchral sounds

and somber shadows

of quiet footprints

imprisoned in fortitude?

Death has a friend in Life.

Life has a friend in Death.

But the twain shall never meet.