[Newspoetry] Note from Omega

[Paul Kotheimer]

	Note from Omega	

I am to be the last human
to die as a result of war.

Whether I choke in my trench
or splatter in my ball-turret
or wither in my bomb shelter
or starve in my incubator
is impossible to predict.

The details are not relevant.
It's likely I will not be known.

If we are wise, I shall be born
near in time to those who decide,
one by one, that we shall not kill;
or, if we blow it all to hell
out of tragic stupidity,
I shall survive among corpses
to be that last, least lucky one.

Have I been born yet?  Perhaps so.
Is my death preventable?  No.
--No more so than any of ours.
The manner and meaning of it,
however, are yours to decide.

You, the living, determine
when my having died is the past.

		--Paul Kotheimer  3/7/03
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