The dying time

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



In '16 the Dying Time begins
And even the strong succumb,
The fragile and elderly have little chance
Of surviving till Dying Time is done.

In '17 the Dying Time takes off
The elderly start to die,
And only the strongest and healthiest
Have any real chance to survive.

In '18 the Dying Time will peak
And slowly will come to an end,
So the fragile and elderly are finally safe
Till the Dying Time starts up again.

For three years every decade
The Dying Time hacks like a scythe,
And all the world over the frail
Begin first to sick then die.

The Dying Time does not discriminate
It kills everybody it can,
It stalks around the wide world
Like a plaque that is sweeping the land.

So rug up and try to stay warm
Stay healthy and out of the cold,
When the Dying Time swathes ‘cross the nation
It takes all ages, not merely the old.

The Dying Time can be predicted
It comes round the same time each decade,
But it’s not something you can prepare for
It’s not something you can evade.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on May 23, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXA XBXX XCXX DXXB XXXX XEAE XDXD CXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,026
Words 197
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

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