Churros With Death

Last night, a week after doctors told me I had cancer,
Death came to visit me.

“Is it time already?” I asked, rubbing my sleepy eyes.
“Soon,” he muttered. “Soon. Take my hand.”

Next thing I knew we were standing in a desert
beside a Mexican food truck ordering churros.

“This is one of the best churros I’ve ever had,” said Death after taking a bite.
“Try it,” he said, pointing at my churro with a boney finger.

Thinking he seemed amicable enough, I asked
“Can I have just a little more time?”
Death laughed and slapped his scaly knee.
“You don’t know how many billions of times I’ve heard that before.
Ha! That never gets old!”

As he slunk away, Death turned, waved, and shouted,
“I’ll be seeing you around, Johnny Boy!”

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About the author: In the fall of 2022, Dr. John Smelcer was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell, non-specified, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a metastatic cancer of the lymphatic system. He is currently undergoing hospitalization cycles of chemo and immuno-therapy. John Smelcer is the author of 60 books, including a dozen books of poetry. His most recent collection is Raven. For a quarter century, he was Poetry Editor at Rosebud Magazine, where he currently serves as Senior Editor Emeritus. From 2016-2020, he was the Inaugural Writer-in-Residence for the Charter for Compassion, the world’s largest compassion movement with over five million members in 45 countries.