Gatherer of Souls
By Antonio Pagliarulo
Through a haze
I can see the face:
flushed, drunken, lost -
Behind the glass it glows
like fire
Burning at whatever cost
Not man or woman
but reckless choice
This gatherer of souls -
speeding steel and spinning wheel
A scream without a voice
My tale begins like any other -
common, innocent, vague
But listen to my words
and learn of
This growing plague
I was driving in my car
Cruising through the night
unaware, like many, that I was moving
toward The Light -
summer wind and darkened sky
and moments long gone by
Never thinking - Will I die?
I should tell you now
that life was kind before that
Last betrayal -
family and memory and
All that could ever be -
not expecting tragedy to make a victim
Out of me
While further down the highway was
The gatherer of souls -
heated spoon and needle to vein
Bottle to lips
and it's all the same when
It comes down to inflicting pain
or choosing
The indifference of
A fated little influence
I never felt the impact
I only heard the crash -
a sudden screech
a rain of glass as
My angel of burial came to pass -
wings of black that fluttered near and
Silenced all my mortal fear
But the gatherer of souls
will surely ride again
drink in hand, swerving round the bend
What then?
And I, like a whisper, can only
warn you of the dread
That comes with sleeping in the Eternal Bed
it is where I dwell
For I am dead
Copyright 2000 by Antonio Pagliarulo


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