It's Already Begun the Death Watch

It's already begun, the death watch

Keep track of every slipping thought 

Every failing of the tongue 

Each situation misconstrued 

Each word strung out in a kinked and hanging incompletion

Disfigurement, paralysis, emaciation of the mind ensues

The bubbling flood of images congeals

A gummy mass, a sickly sweet love-hate tears-laugh unglues

And they come pass each one untagged

The source the same but all without a name

No eye sees beyond this glass 

No ear detects through the heavy wall

No footstep moves him up or down the hall

The bed a muffle to a movement

The sweat soaked pillow absorbs his listless spittle

And all the care and all the questioning, the wait

Far too far too little to make difference

And late too much so late

c. 1965 J. S. Manista