Dead...Again

Today, in my own
over-dramatic, neurotic,
hypochondriacal,
kind of way
I have 'died a million
deaths'...

Death doesn’t daunt me...
only the plight of those
I leave behind.

And then, tonight,
I have dinner with a man
whom I’ve known
for all but ten
of my three score years...

we talk things over;
he thwarts my demons,
as, customarily, he does.

He pays the bill –
escorts me home,
then quips, ‘Catch you,
in the morning.’ ‘Fine,’
I say. ‘If I’m still here.’

‘Let’s do it with the light on
for a change,’ he says,
and, until tomorrow,
the world goes away.