The Reaper
The Reaper resents always being described as grim
though he keeps his resentment to himself.
Who would he tell?
He knows it is just one misrepresentation among many
and of lesser consequence than most.
He considers himself more the embodiment of whim,
sharpening his scythe with humour and irony,
approaching his task with the gaiety of fulfilment.
He is a master of levity after all
as the dearly departed rise around him
like a throng of balloons.
It is a wonder they don’t hear his chuckle
as he comes to them, his deep basso profundo
belly laugh endlessly mistaken for the roll of thunder
after the last lightning strike.
- David Ades 2018
David Ades is a Sydney poet, late of Pittsburgh via Adelaide, who has just returned from the Queensland Poetry Festival where he talked a year's worth of poetry.
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