Kwesi BISSUE
After birth comes life
Life you live
through the school of life
The coroner’s report affirms the doctor’s records
The easy life he lusts
The fast life he styles
At twenty and sampling their virginity
At twenty but desiring the plenty
At twenty but living as fifty
His kidneys attend every function
His kidneys end their function
only at thirty
He undergoes dialysis
only at thirty
His cells begin to cry
His cells refuse to carry on
only at thirty
He gives his cancer the Chemo opportunity
For a therapy
only at thirty
At forty his life squeezes to a decrease
He succumbs to seventy-seven stubborn diseases
At forty he becomes, ‘The Deceased’
And now he is in that long black limousine
Now there is enough time for mourning
School of life continues through life
II
The newspapers told of how he lost his life
The wild party with pals all night
The drunk-driving on his way home
The curve he failed to see
The race to drive past the speeding jeep
in the speeding spree
The crush of the crashing metals
The crushing of bones and skull
The spill and the spurting of blood
And now he is in the long black limousine
Now there is enough time for mourning
Lessons learned in life
through the school of life
III
The grapevine had the story told
of how they stole his life
of how they stalled his progress
of how his life wasted away
of how he wrestled with life each day
The agonizing depravity
at the hands of selfish cartels
The humiliating poverty
inflicted by greedy bellies
The distressing moments
enforced by a constricting lack
The depressing life
imposed by oppressing hands
The torment
The torture
The hell
He turns his back on this hell
He turns the gun on his head
And now he is in that long black limousine
Now there is enough time for mourning
The school of life
Teaches all humans
a human way to go
IV
His contemporaries told of his exemplary style
As ripe as ninety
and still going
As old as ninety
but still faring
As old and bent
but still kicking
The wisdom in the grey lines
So caring, so God-fearing
The clean heart in the kind eyes
So reachable, so responsive
The patience in his legs
So content, never learned to rush
He became the late Grandpa
as late as ninety-nine
And now he is in that long black limousine
Now there is enough time for mourning
The ABCD of life and death
After Birth Comes Death
