The Long Goodbye

"To part is to die a little"

THE LONG GOODBYE
To say goodbye is to die a little
A paper cuts while Nero fiddles.
A brother born sucks on his thumb
Plots and plans his things to come.

To say hello is to lay down arms
Put hate away say here’s to charms.
A vote cast, might as well not bother
They have us fighting one another.

To say I do, is to turn and pray
That two will through a daily day.
The plays the thing and the beastly burden
Is shuffling onward til the final curtain.

To say I can, I will, I must
Before the end of common trust.
This songs still sung and we know the air
Writ by the loser in their despair.

To do this or that or what have you done
Accountability for the lies he spun.
His knife sticking through my raw throat
is that him leaving with my new coat?

Oh brother, brother, where art thou?
Out in the field with cow and plough.
Burying hope under tree and bushes
You have killed, but the earth still pushes.

To say I'm guilty, yes I done
This little thing but oh what fun.
But there's a print, a fingertip
That wrote your name and now it's writ.

A thief, a liar, a haberdasher
A bad house guest, the plates the smasher.
The jeer, the sneer, the welch on bills
In love and grief I vomit chills.

It’s too damn long, it's too damn high
It’s too short, short, short we gonna hie
Who dies last is that the winner?
I'll be at your funeral if you pay for dinner.

Copyright John Munnelly May 2022