Grim View

Many’s the time I’ve pricked my ears
To painful tales of woe.
All the while, my mind adrift,
My thoughts like blowing snow.

I hear the words, I see the faces
I cry a river of tears.
Yet in my heart I laugh aloud
At all their youthful fears.

Their hearts still feel the pull of life,
Their loins the call of lust.
Yet they believe their future’s gone
And all will come to dust.

How simple and naïve are they
For life ends not at death.
Our futures carry far beyond
Our lasting final breath.

Adventures await, new worlds abound,
A chance at life anew.
A sea of endless possibility
That is given to so few.

For only he who fears not death
Will make his peace with life.
Only those who remember hope
Can pass beyond their strife.

What is death to immortal souls?
A simple change of state.
If only they could understand
They would not fear their fate.

Who am I to judge their fears?
I am a judge of souls.
It is to me, in love and deeds
That they must pay their tolls.

For I am Death, a reaper of life,
Of mortal flesh and bone.
To take those fears and all those sins
They feel they must atone.

I am no heartless sage of fate,
No messenger of hell.
I give them what they wish of me
And hope all will be well.

They all will choose their terms of death,
Whatever they believe.
For most, they choose a private hell.
For them, I’ll always grieve.

For I am Death, a reaper of life,
Of mortal flesh and bone
And that most dark and hellish choice
Is all I’ve ever known.