The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Momento Mori
by Angela Yuriko Smith

Death came down my street
singing eenie, meenie, mo
one of you must go….

…and my neighbor went.
he wasn’t the type to fear
or ask dark questions.

Death wasn’t impressed.
Death walked down the yellow line
seeking open doors.

was it lack of fear
that caught Death’s notice? was it…
a beam of moonlight…

music at midnight…
too much laughter before dawn?
the result was Death

gliding up the stairs
through the unlocked door, hooded
and blind, but seeking.

and finding this man
brave, bold and full of party
unable to see

the last grain of sand
falling—memento mori.
the minutes tick by

unnoticed, a pulse
unremarked upon… until
under the veil.

Death came down my street.
Death is inevitable…
still, I lock my door.

Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

More from Angela Yuriko Smith:

Angela Yuriko Smith is an American poet, author and co-publisher of Space and Time magazine, a publication that has been printing speculative fiction, art and poetry since 1966. Together we build a poem as a community each month. Visit “Exquisite Corpse” at SpaceandTime.net to submit.

Catch up with Angela here!