Promise me, if you can

that you won’t go out blazing

like Hemmingway,

she whispered in the darkness

of my thoughts whilst

forever bathing with sweetness and

open minded serenity,

I can cope with you fighting the bear,

I see the sense in wandering off into the great

unknown and the untouchable

but you are no Hemmingway,

you are not that selfish.

I thought about it for a while,

In between the tolling of the clock

and agreed, I would never see the sense

in placing the barrel against my own head,

for there are too many out there

who would be more than willing

to do it for me

and laugh as they pulled back the trigger.

Ian D. Hall 2016