I am afraid to think about my death, <br />When it shall be, and whether in great pain <br />I shall rise up and fight the air for breath <br />Or calmly wait the bursting of my brain. <br />I am no coward who could seek in fear <br />A folk-lore solace or sweet Indian tales: <br />I know dead men are deaf and cannot hear <br />The singing of a thousand nightingales. <br />I know dead men are blind and cannot see <br />The friend that shuts in horror their big eyes, <br />And they are witless - O, I'd rather be <br />A living mouse than dead as a man dies.<br /><br />James Elroy Flecker<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/no-coward-s-song/
