“I Choose to Walk With Death: A Villanelle”

by Charles Ardai

A man may die but once. But he may kill 

A dozen times, perhaps, before the end 

Before embracing silence works her will

A colleague make of Death, a peer, until

Where fear once flowed, one merely finds a friend.

A man may die but once. But he may kill. 

Familiarity with Death is still

Uncommon and unsought, our selves defend

Before embracing silence works her will

But nowhere is it written we must fill

Our days with life when deathward all do tend.

A man may die but once. But he may kill 

A dozen times, or more. We pay the bill

The same, the same our shivered hoardings spend

Before embracing silence works her will.

I choose to walk with Death, to climb that hill

Unto the gallows proudly, nor my neck bend.

A man may die but once. But he may kill 

Before embracing silence works her will.

***

Although better known as an Edgar, Shamus, and Ellery Queen Award-winning author and editor, and co-creator of the Hard Case Crime line of books, Charles Ardai began by studying Romantic and Victorian poetry at Columbia University, a skill set he has not called upon since, until this very moment.