Sentenced

Ever been convinced that you were going to die today?  Or maybe you were convinced suddenly that someone else was going to die really soon?  I have more then usual now, probably because of the play I'm in (Our Town) and the book I'm writing (I Wonder If I'll Die Today).  I think it's a good thing to remember, so if you feel like being sentimental with me, grab a cup of coffee and read on.  (Coffee makes everything better.  Including this poem).

                                      SENTENCED 

Floor beneath is cold.

Cold as death.

I shake like old.

Misty breath, 

I say goodbye to every puff,

Every breath is just enough 

For now, I'm just as well dead.

I want to cry as I wait,

The seconds strike my coming fate,

I can't escape.

I know it's too late.

God must be cruel to put me here,

Too scared to even wipe a tear,

To end my life while full of fear.

Every resounding second is a gun shot to the head,

And for those sixty seconds, my fear is blood red.

And then a voice,

So calm it sang,

Through my growing dread.

He sat across the cell from me,

Thorns around his head.

Five more minutes till my death.

Five more minutes to use my breath.

Five minutes to sing with the man in the cell,

What will happen, 

I can't tell.

Perhaps die alone and go to hell.

Human as I,

I deserve that fate.

But I have five minutes.

And its not too late.