The year is fading away <br />From us in December’s snow and cold; <br />But Christmas is coming soon— <br />What joy that season will bring! <br />And how swift the foot of time! <br />How brief a thing is life! <br /> <br />I wonder whether I would prefer death to life, <br />That it shall be taken away <br />From me, and I shall live a short time <br />Only; I think of the icy cold <br />That Death will bring <br />Me soon: <br /> <br />Soon enough, or is it, perhaps, too soon, <br />To be taken, willing or unwilling, from a life, <br />That one’s parents did bring <br />One unconscious and unwilling; that taken away, <br />A life that perhaps, is dismal, dank, and cold; <br />But it must be, in a short time. <br /> <br />Or is it a long time? <br />Whether that is true or not, it feels too soon <br />And not soon enough to plunge into the cold <br />Waters of death from the comfort of life, <br />If it is comfort we are taken away <br />From. I want God to bring <br /> <br />Me to heaven; but I do not deserve Him to bring <br />Me there—not at this time; <br />But there is a way <br />When God wills it so, so soon; <br />When God wills it so with one’s life, <br />Which in itself was bleak and cold. <br /> <br />When I am dead I shall not feel cold; <br />If, as I hope, God shall bring <br />Me to heaven, I shall not be cold in that life, <br />Nor in hell, the thought of which fills me with dread, hot as hell all the time, <br />Not cold; I shall feel the warmth soon; <br />This life will soon melt away. <br /> <br />How cold it is in this life all the time! <br />God brings His Son; Christmas comes soon: <br />And life, at last, it vanishes away. <br /> <br />(22nd or 23rd December,2005.)<br /><br />David Mitchell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sestina-5/
