One and Only

Armageddon for everyone
Will only be dying for each,
Since dying is Armageddon
For everyone, each and by each.

What is it then about mass deaths,
Deaths in crowds, by plague or slaughter
Or some tornadic disaster,
That seems so, so, so, so much worse?

It’s all the fault of the living,
Always the fault of survivors.
No wonder they feel so guilty.
They should. They bring back their reports

From the boundary of that Land,
The other side of which is peace,
The near side thick with suffering.
You can only perish as one,

But you can witness an army,
A population, a people,
Everyone you’ve ever called kin
Being tortured and tossed over

The cliff. You can accumulate
Armageddon if you survive
And carry it back to the rest,
Who forget they’ve only one death.