Young and Handsome

A poem about the taunt of an early death and what that could mean.

Young and Handsome

If I should die before my time
Then all I’ll carry
Is the love I’m sharing
So don’t cry for me
I’m not a fallen tree
My life is just a seed
And I will be planted
To grow honest branches

So if I’m still young and handsome
When I take my last breath
Chalk it up to chance
And foul circumstances
Not some divine wrath
Or a sign of badness
I’m forever blessed
And I’ll go with gladness

For my heart is set
And my soul’s been ransomed
I don’t owe a debt
To the one whose hands stretched
To receive and accept
What I have in my chest

And it’s his life I offer
Not this one that’s faltered
So with my death I’ll profit
But I hope I don’t get—
Stabbed—or bludgeoned to death,
While I’m still young and handsome
For there’s just so much life left
That I can learn—and grow from