If You Die Poem by David Lewis Paget

If you die, I shall smash all the windows,
And I’ll burn all the pictures of you,
I shall kick down the doors
And I’ll tear up the floors
If you die...
If you dare...
If you do!
And you’ll never be safe in the hurt and the hate
Though you lie and stare sightlessly back,
For I’ll batter your face to destroy any grace
You’ve preserved...
For the life that you lack!

Then I’ll claw at your arms and your fingers
So they’ll never hold anyone new,
And I’ll mark both your thighs
In the light of your lies
If you die...
If you dare...
If you do!
I will scream in your ears ’til your eyes fill with tears
In remorse for the love we once knew,
And I’ll bite at your lips and your dead fingertips
So the pain
Of the living comes through.

If you die, I shall wander at midnight
Through the darkest of forest and fen,
I shall cry out your shame
As the wind takes your name
If you die...
If you leave me again!

8 December 1975