In my quest to become a better writer, sometimes I will pick a writing prompt and see where it leads me. Based upon a prompt regarding an old man and a mysterious vial, I developed the following poem about a man who is faced with a curious choice regarding death. Even though death claimed my first wife and the husband of my current wife (five years ago, we met at a widows and widowers conference and married a short season later), and even though there are no guarantees how long we have here in mortality together, I know what I would do with the vial. What would you choose to do?
The Vial
An old sage, strange, mysterious,
did stroll along so serious,
Approached a man of fifty years,
who seemed upon the verge of tears.
Unto the man, the sage did speak,
“I have this substance quite unique.
Within this vial, I’ll give to you,
contains a power ever true.
Just drink it down and soon you’ll be,
alive for all eternity.
And death shall leave, avoid your door,
for you shall live forevermore.
But stop and think, before you choose,
to banish death, what will you lose?
Can you become a perfect man,
If you remove death from your plan?”
The sage did give the man the vial,
then quickly left, with but a smile.
Unto his home, the man returned.
Within his heart, the question burned,
Was death, for him, necessity,
or might he skip it and be free?
Then to his mind, these words, they came.
He heard his Savior’s voice proclaim,
“As I am, you, must too become.
Hence, unto death, I did succumb.”
Upon the cross, our Lord did choose.
Death’s pains He would not there refuse.
As Christ did enter through death’s door,
He gained all Father had in store.
And so, the man, he would not drink.
He took the vial to his sink.
He poured its contents down the drain,
embracing death and all its pain.
