Death Is...

By G. W. Thomas

Fifty strong and canny wizards
Sat debating matters old,
The Rainbow Man sat among them
His eyes opulent and cold.

Gromatus the necromancer
Stood tall and did decry
"Lady Death is a beauty
Her Kisses softer than a sigh."

Kradak the Seer took the floor
His ruby crystal held avast
"Death is a wind that tears us
To our future from our past."

Next to recite was Ap the magi
Priestly follower of Ornn
"Death is a robber-baron
Cruel, wicked and forlorn.

The Rainbow Man rose to speak
But a thunderous knocking
Tolled throughout the chamber
Sudden death to all talking.

The door flewwith a clang
A spectral figure entered in
Clutching stylus, ink and pad
Death arrived with a bony grin.

He penned the names of those to die
Gromatus, Ap, Kradak and others
And tallied their lives on his slate
Left the room filled with fewer brothers.

The wizards remaining cried out
Speaking in whispers and in cant
"The truth is clear to us to see
Death is just an account-ant!"