they do die in spring

They do die in spring

Lately, people around me my age die
it gives me a hollow feeling shall I be the next?
If so, can it not wait until I buy a bike
that has three wheels, two in the back and
a big wheel in front, with a battery to help
in a steep incline.
A modest wish.
I think I’m deluding myself by wishing for more
years and not facing up to my natural mortality
riding up and down hills in Cascais in a hurry
The great composer of Wiener waltzes
Josef Straus lived in a great terror of death
he never stayed more than one week in a town
in fear of being run over by a tram and die
He eventually did die, but not before roses
in his garden, danced one of his famous waltzes
Happy and fulfilled, he went back to his bed
drank a glass of wine, and thought of tomorrow
glad in the knowledge no tram had killed him