Death-Angel Poem by Bhanu Padmo

Like darkness creeps up the death-angel
From center of the flame that shone bright;
To shelter life and its glory.
Like darkness it creeps up.

As sleep it creeps up,
Anesthesia against extinction.

As redeemer of life it creeps up
To redeem it from destruction and its pain,
From the end and its despondence.

As sweetness of rest creeps up the death-angel,
From center of the flame that shone bright;
From center of own being,
Unyieldingly diligent yet fatigued.

As peace most profound it permeates;
Memories it collects and coagulates,
Bit by bit, segment by segment,
Curing a life-long schizophrenia.

Cumulative meaning it begets;
As the pre-death achievement,
But the trans-death prelude to be.

Thus creeps up the death-angel,
Like darkness and as sleep,
As rest and as peace;
From center of the flame that shone bright,
To shelter life and its glory.

Behold this pre-death achievement,
The trans-death prelude to be,
That the death-angel spells.

Like a serene lake it looks,
Beside the dam invincible,
Across the river of life;
And the dam is the death inviolable,
That creates this climax;
The river-swallowing lake,
Serene with meaning,
Unmistakable and consummate,
Pregnant with prospect intriguing.

But the magic was already done.
Along its banks did the river dent;
The dents for bypasses of meaning;
Ever-swelling but to be invincibly dammed.

Offspring they called these by-plays,
Omens of death-angel though these were to be.

And these by-plays would at length,
As rivers of life,
Beget own lakes of meaning;
Ever-swelling but to be invincible dammed;
Seeking dents upon own banks,
Malleable and adaptive;
To achieve bypasses in turn.

And all lakes of memories and meanings,
As a timeless gene-bank,
Would sustain life protean,
Universal and integral,
Deathless and uninterruptible;
Under the spell of the death-angel,
Inviolable and invincible.