Death doesn’t discriminate against

The plights of sorry mortals

As long as it sensed

These familiar reeks, it chortles

Skulking in the pitch-black of despair

Lingering for the right moment to

Swoop in out of nowhere -

Bestowing no time to bid adieu

It is a merciless devil, and a

Humane angel, for it does not

Discriminate against those who pray,

Those hushed, or those untaught

It does not care for earthly pettiness -

The brawling, the bitching - nor

Does it assess the departee’s readiness

The eulogies and wills - it abhors

We hear it in the tales of our past

And in the news of the present

For it bears a chilling forecast

To our own final ascent