I'm petrified...

I'm petrified...

Of a simple five-letter word

Which no one can defy

Or confront or disregard

Or defeat or overpower

Or challenge or dispute

Even the latest gadgets and gizmos

Cannot breathe life into

Or revert or rewind

Or delay or defer

Or  simply take it for granted

I'm petrified...

No, I'm not afraid

Of the death of a dear one

Or the loss of a beloved

Or the demise of a soul

Or the passing away of someone special

It is inevitable...

But doom is certain

When an abstract most valued

Just slips away from our hands

At a place the scariest

At an hour the darkest

With an outcome the deadliest

I'm petrified...

Everyone is born with it

But no one nurtures it

Or cultivates it  

Or perpetuates it

And it dies an immature death

I'm petrified...

Of the untimely death

Of truth and honesty.