the final settlement

you go to funerals
carrying the scent of the end
on your clothes
only to walk back
into the light
and start to lie again.

you accumulate wealth
you betray
you build walls of debt
as if you can bribe
the dirt.

what a joke
to hoard the gold
when the ferryman
does not take
your credit card.

the truth is
they will live
and you will be gone.
the table will be set
without your plate.
the breakfast will be served
while you are
turning to cold stone.

slowly
they will talk less.
slowly
the memories will fade
until your name
is just a sound
the wind forgot.

you treat your skin
like it is a permanent cage
rather than a rented room.
you fight for a patch of ground
as if the earth doesn’t already
have your name written
beneath the grass.

you trade your eyes
for the reflection in the mirror.
you trade your peace
for the noise of the crowd.
you are so busy
counting the years you have left
that you forget
the fire is already breathing.

you spent your holy fire
to warm a house of straw.
you broke your back
to carry a crown made of salt
into a rising tide.

so laugh at your vanity—
you are the one hoarding keys
to a room you are leaving forever.
the flame does not care
how much you were feared
or how much you were owed.

it is the final settlement.
not a negotiation.
just the quiet
of your absence.

you have a god
to meet
within the silence.