A YOUNG MAN FACE TO FACE WITH MORTALITY

By John Grey

I see a body in the river.

He is in the shallows,

water rippling his lips,

sunlight pecking at his cheeks

like gulls.

He may have good reasons

for being where he is

but the current peels away,

the liquid rots,

the body mutates

into something rancid.

This is a peaceful place

everywhere but in his eyes.

He looks as if

he's suffering for being dead.

I should go get help.

He needs to be hauled out of there,

interred properly, humanely.

But this is my secret place

and he my unwitting treasure.

I get down on my knees,

peer into his face.

My reflection takes up

half of his expression.

The rest is green and purple.

Yes, every time I look,

life floats atop death.

But I know it can't keep this up forever

John Grey is an Australian poet, U.S. resident, recently published in New World Writing, North Dakota Quarterly, and Tenth Muse. Latest books, Between Two Fires, Covert, and Memory Outside the Head, are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Birmingham Arts Journal, La Presa, and Shot Glass Journal.