How the end intrudes

 Ends crawl up on us and declare themselves with cruelty
Just as we had convinced ourselves we were enjoying it all
Politely and with urgency some crumpled face insists
And all go back to whence they came

empty handed and empty hearted
Knowing that hour will never recreate itself again
So we will just pretend in extended handshakes and hugs
as each one of us separates pretending it's not our will

Pretending like we don't choose that same hour death
Radio loud monotony where we believe things can't get better
That we've hoarded or achieved about all we can do
We've loved with the heart and organs at maximum capacity

when often they didn't recive much more than the choke
In an old car on a cold day just enough to spark it
The same pretend games revolving around a schedule
A meaningless maypol you skip around ribbons and steps

All things in their place a night's end, a morning's work waiting
The end just crawls up on us and interrrupts those precious last words
The ones that may change or reinvigorate a lifetime ill spent
radio loud monotony cutting off the warmth politely

Crumpled face to come and remind us where fantasy meets reality
Happily but sadistically killing our joyful pretense
So that we may lie in the expensive box and decompose in the ground
The same wood that made our school desks so many precious decades ago