Death and the Miser, by Charlie Brice

Death and the Miser, by Hieronymus Bosch (Burgundian Netherlands). 1494?

 
Death and the Miser
 
Death enters through a door shyly, almost diffidently.
His delights are earthy. He comes and goes
as he wishes. Still, why not be polite?
The man with all the money, his name
on everything from his underwear
to the building he lives in, thought
Death would never come for him. Mr. D draws
an arrow stolen from the corpse of Eros--
another story, a funny one. The miser’s decrepitude
looks delicious, his pallor pleases as much
as a demon’s breath. Dread becomes him.
Mr. D shuts his eyes, the better to aim
(he works best in the dark). How sweet
the arrow’s flight, the thud home, the miser’s
moan, sycophants and monks shriek, a black-cloaked
Dominican grabs his silver and runs for his life--
the only indulgence that matters. ​

Charlie Brice

Charlie Brice: "I am a retired psychoanalyst living in Pittsburgh. My full length poetry collection, Flashcuts Out of Chaos, is published by WordTech Editions (2016) and my second collection, Mnemosyne's Hand (WordTech Editions), will appear in 2018. My poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Atlanta Review, Hawaii Review, The Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, The Dunes Review, SLAB, Fifth Wednesday Journal,  Plainsong, and elsewhere."