← Poems · Shehu Abubakar Mann

Who Falls Next?

by Shehu Abubakar Niasse

Of all things that come afterlife, death is the most certain. You might not know what happens before birth or what life there may be after death. But, certainly, you know someday you'll be bereft of air to breathe. So, while you still walk yourself over this earth, prepare your apopemptic songs to paint your tongue when you leave. You didn't die just because you'll have to another time. The time, alone, is your sparing grace. Remember, this life is lived for an eternal one. Remember, you need no reason to die or to be kept alive. Remember, all you strive to own are formed dusts that will deform like a muddy mug when dipped in water. But what you own in others' palms will be yours forevermore. Remember! As life begins in a measure of time less than a nanosecond, so it ends. We came like a lightning and we depart like a lightning into the nigher sky. Like leaves we are and the tree of life shakes nonstop. Who falls next?
Shehu Abubakar Niasse is the pen name of Shehu Abubakar Mann, also known as Abubakar Shehu, a poet from Ilorin, Nigeria. First published at PoemHunter.