When Death Knocks. Poem by Biyaya Y.

Oh Death!

The knock on the door
that everyone dreads,
yet one that waits
outside every home.

You never announce yourself,
for your arrival carries more than silence can bear.
You enter like a heavy blanket, drawing itself over a room,
smothering laughter, dimming light, leaving only sorrow, pain, and sometimes, regret.

Oh, Death...
You arrive too quickly, yet sometimes, too slowly.
Lingering in hospital rooms, emptying pockets, draining strength, watching families spend everything they have trying to hold on to the ones you came for.

Oh, Death...

Why do you come unannounced?
Why must your footsteps always sound like heartbreak?
Why do you snatch our loved ones from us?

Oh, Death...

Why do you leave children fatherless…or orphaned?
Why do you leave wives without husbands, and husbands without wives?
Why do you make us wail until our voices grow weary, and even the kindest words cannot reach where the pain lives?

Oh, Death...

You strike
at the most unexpected hour.
Your visitation leaves tears on pillows, empty seats at dinner tables, phones that will never ring again, and names spoken only in remembrance.

Yet in your silence, you whisper to those still breathing

Love while you can.

Forgive while you can.

Live while you can.

Because one day...
you, too, will knock at our door.