Sometimes I Fear
Sometimes I fear a body knows when it’s dying
and relays urgency to the brain
to make a flourish of praise
to transcribe the odd tongues of the soul
in startling new ways.
Some undiscovered lump
or chronic flaw of the skin ignored:
young little tombstones.
Galvanized nerve impulses
flee their caskets
in that network below
and prompt early epitaphs
altruistic but sad.
Then by grace I remember
Paul’s secret shield
and the seeming belated overture
composed as the faculties fade
is not a swan song
but a phoenix shout.
Not a wish to have done
but a will to sing at last
to open my mouth
so my spirit can pass
and carry on
the simple flamed melody
of loving what’s good.
Alex Wiggins graduated with a BA in English from Stephen F. Austin University and has since been working as a web and software designer for a big retail company. He plans to pursue graduate studies in the coming months. He’s also a self-recorded songwriter, father figure to a spoiled Siberian Husky, and husband to the world’s most lovely wife.
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I love the last few lines, “carry on / the simple flamed melody / of loving what’s good.” Beautiful!