It is in the Blood

By Vincent R. Pozon

"We are composed of what will undo us."
- Lucretius

Decay is fed into our veins
from the day we are born
and first burped, fed continually,
as the heart pulses,
fed as we are taught to walk,
dazzle, count money,
hold trinkets and trophies,
as we are made love to
and helped to a wheelchair
and later to bed, later lifted
by a sheet onto another bed
and into a pine box
and shoved into a furnace,
for decay to finally leave our veins
to float into the air.