I am afraid to think about
my death,
When it shall be, and whether in great
pain
I shall rise up and
fight the air for breath
Or
calmly wait the bursting of my brain.
I am no coward who could seek in fear
A folk-lore solace or sweet Indian tales:
I know dead men are deaf and cannot hear
The singing of a thousand nightingales.
I know dead men are blind and cannot see
The friend that shuts in horror their big eyes,
And they are witless -- O, I'd rather be
A living mouse than dead as a man dies.
- James Elroy Flecker