regardless of reaching nowhere, a propos of nothing, another prose pome

one step nearer to world's end
one day nearer to death
did something significant happen tonight?
did a dark cloud eclipse the sun?
"i've got sunshine on my stomach
like i just rocked my baby to sleep"
the sanhedrin's been re-formed
the mark of the beast, readied
the temple they say will soon rear its top
and the "machine messiah" his head
i'm just sitting here reading words
that have been well-crafted, that pern
or listening to music
or watching good movies
or looking at (pics) icons that shine
like the boatman i get enlightenment from the river and its dazzling depth
like siddhartha i get compassion, knowing each family has lost someone
and my hemlock drunk i echo the words of socrates: learn to die
and like the nazarene who walked the dusty roads of the earth's navel once
i rest in the calm assurance that it is how one dies that counts
and not the shame, since we are all nailed
before i drift off to sleep in the pale
autumn moonlight that adorns my dreams
and draws a tracery of silver leaves
like a crown around my poem, while my sleeve
draws a heart to it in its last appeal...