Last Words

have finality

force

they can’t be taken back

I’ve spoken them few times

Usually when I didn’t mean to

and I always regretted saying them

But there are times when last words should be said

when you cry death to your life

or death to a job

These words have power

they will never be forgotten by those who heard them

and this is how writers should write

I seldom remember words spoken at funerals

because they are usually tired metaphors that don’t mean anything

What will we say to those we leave behind?

What words will we say to HR?

If there is such a thing as a good death,

the words that precede it must mean something

Can you express your whole life in half a sentence?

And can the words that are said redeem a man

for his lifetime?

We rehearse last words that are never said

I’ve got a whole memory full of them

and they want to come out

but these words never sound the same

after I’ve been thinking them for years

Last words can only be said once

and then they lose their power

They are said spontaneously

When there is no hope

When there is no retreat

When there is nothing

absolutely nothing

I remember last words that were spoken

but I never talk about them

I have reverence for their finality

to say them again

would cheapen their memory

Last words should mean something

if you can’t say them

someone else will

And nobody gets last words right

other than the person who says

their last