With A Bang, Not A Whimper (Poetry)

Tell me, did you go gently at the end
or did you spit your anger at the night?
or maybe say your prayers and meekly send
a plea for truce — not caring for a fight?

I thought you had some spirit left inside —
a small reserve the rebel meant to save
until the last, when desperation cried
‘Back to the wall! Dig in those heels! Be brave!’

So it was a lost cause — no way to win
the outcome predetermined by the stars
Death threw his punch — you took it on the chin
as someone used to being in such wars

Please tell me that you didn’t just submit
but found courage when you needed it the most
and made a decent contest out of it
even when you knew you hadn’t got a ghost

of a chance. So let’s be honest — friend to friend
for you always were a stickler for the truth
did you go quietly at the very end
or give them hell and raise the bloody roof?