all there is

it’s natural as hell.
   you see it everywhere.
but it still sneaks up & scares
   everyone, this
dying.

why should the hair turn
   grey, & the joints get
stiff, & the flesh wither
   embarrassingly from the
bone?

can’t someone do
   something?

it seems so nonsensical that
   all of us should spent all
these years just growing
   old.

you have to give
   DNA credit for the
fleshy supple skin of
   infants & their natural
body blush.

but why should it
   program our faces to
crinkle; our breasts to
dry up?

& why this blood in the
   stool & this cancer all over
the insides of my
   friends?

does it all end with a morbid
   autopsy, sterile coroner’s
report & ashes?

or is making history only the
   beginning, & this body, what
we need to leave
   behind?