Half-Death

When they polish and primp me,
And take me around,
They rave that I look half-alive.
But the company of corpses
Excludes me for living,
The living exclude me for death.
The flesh that deserts me
Slips sensually off,
Negligee dropped to the floor.
The dogs sniff around me,
But none of them picks up my scent
(Not alive enough to smell,
Or dead enough to stink).
The rest of my bones–
Skeleton crew left behind–
Rattle their cage,
Manning the flesh to the end.
As the cage of my bones
Disintegrates around its contents.
The only hope left is to
To die all the way.