If Death Were a Gentleman | Teen Ink

If Death Were a Gentleman

August 10, 2013
By Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale


if Death were a gentleman, then the possum lying inside out on the road
the product of some kid in a car who wanted to see some blood
would be the last screeching entrance of Death
into and then – hiss, bam, bang – out of this dimension
because he would learn from the human exhalations that he passes on his way out
some manners
and he would enter quietly, when asked for by creaking bones
and smile, and tip his hat.


or his lesson would have been learned in the breath of that bullet that hit the boy walking home –
bang! justice learned, finally, from the yell of a harmless body harmed –


or in the girl in the woods – the girls in the woods – whispering their shame to the foliage, who would tell death as he passed through –


or in the broken bodies in the war, sent home or in home, lost to sorry desert sands that would roar through the world so loud Death could not ignore them –


or in the people who fell in the fires of a thousand buildings falling, expanding, shattering
or the frightened children crying, crying anytime, from the impotent land that lent all man life, or the depths of the city as sirens and mothers wailed against the boom-boom-boom of the bombs, a sorry symphony that would move Death to tears –

or the women melting into their homes, kimonos radiant on their skin, or the men with skeleton faces imprisoned by heaven and hell, or the soldiers, anytime, the people, anytime, the thousands wilting, burning, hanging in persecution, rotting in forgottenness –

or eons ago when man first picked up a stone and killed his brother –

except death, of the earth, he has nothing to learn

fabrications cannot learn, understand

Death: made not by God, nor anything godly!


no, if there were any gentle men anywhere then that man from a million millennia ago would have lifted that stone and looked at his brother and thought of blood and bone and said

wait

and dropped the stone.


The author's comments:
I wrote this a long time ago and then totally forgot about it, but it seems like it was probably at least partially inspired by The Book Thief :)

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This article has 10 comments.


on Feb. 1 2014 at 7:53 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk." -Welcome to Night Vale

thank you! :)

on Dec. 29 2013 at 12:05 pm
Birdsinger SILVER, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7 articles 1 photo 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;I cannot live without books.&rdquo; <br /> ~Thomas Jefferson

This is quite a unique piece--poetic in rhythm and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed it. Also, wanted to mention that I loved The Book Thief. That was such an amazing book! Anyway, great job with this article and I'm eager to read more of your work! (:

on Aug. 20 2013 at 10:51 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk.&quot; -Welcome to Night Vale

wow. that is a huge compliment haha. thank you so much! :D 

on Aug. 20 2013 at 10:32 pm
emmadolan BRONZE, Beverly Hills, Michigan
3 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow.&rdquo; --Margaret Atwood

I actually just read through all of your work--incredible, thanks for sharing

on Aug. 20 2013 at 6:21 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk.&quot; -Welcome to Night Vale

thanks! :) 

on Aug. 20 2013 at 6:20 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk.&quot; -Welcome to Night Vale

thank you so much :) 

on Aug. 20 2013 at 6:19 pm
Amaranthinium GOLD, Dade City, Florida
10 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Do not let numbers tell you what to do. You are blood and earth, not theory and chalk.&quot; -Welcome to Night Vale

haha yes it is a great book in that regard! and thank you :D

on Aug. 20 2013 at 1:04 pm
Silhouettes GOLD, Waltham, Massachusetts
12 articles 0 photos 24 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.&quot; -Vincent Van Gogh

Yes, The Book Thief must be my favorite book, too; probably because it allows for so much wondering while you read. My fellow writer, well done, well done. :)

on Aug. 20 2013 at 11:52 am
Laugh-it-Out PLATINUM, Brooklyn, New York, New York
38 articles 0 photos 445 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light&quot; --Dylan Thomas

Wow. This is amazing. And it deserves more than an editors choice!!! I would have published this!! Amazing, breathtakingly beautiful. True talent my friend :) keep rockin and writin cuz this was amazing!!!

on Aug. 20 2013 at 11:25 am
PeriwinkleFallsSoftly SILVER, Princeton, New Jersey
7 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Some people have lives, some people have music.&quot; - John Greene

Beautiful!