Alas! No famous last words

I must go in for the fog is rising:
she says, a tad weakly, clutching his hand.
through clenched teeth he hisses, playfully winking:
the fog rises and falls like hourglass sand!

Though in delirium, she glares at him:
I have no will to continue living
not being melodramatic or grim
I scarce can breathe, for sure I am dying!

You spoilt my perfect last words: she does pout.
His eyes dance merrily, his voice is gruff:
get up my drama queen, go on, get out!
Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!

Written for dVerse poetics. Today’s host, Laura says:

Select ONE phrase from these famous departing words

• “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain” -Roy Batty, Blade Runner
• “My battery is low and it’s getting dark” – Mars rover ‘Opportunity’
• “A certain butterfly is already on the wing.” Vladimir Nabokov
• “I must go in for the fog is rising” Emily Dickinson
• “Ah! The times were good! It was I who was so unhappy”. Sophie Arnould, French operatic soprano
• “My anchor is well cast, and my ship, though weather-beaten, will outride the storm” Samuel Hopkins, theologian
• “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.” Karl Marx

Then using your chosen phrase:-

• Write a  ‘deathbed’ poem of your own imagination (time and place optional!)
• It does not have to pertain to the author of your chosen words but can do
• You could include backstory, personality, remembrances, other people present
• Make it sad, funny, sudden, expected, personal or remote
• read Billy Collins’ “Deathbeds” poem – it sets all sorts of scenes

Your poem may take any form and that includes a prose poem

OR (for those who like an extra challenge)

Write in elegiac stanzas i.e quatrains with the rhyme scheme ABAB written in iambic pentameter.

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