Our is , our are , our am ”all melt away
To was and were , the markers of a grave.
The sweet infinitives we hope to save”
To sing , to cheer , to love , to kiss , to play ”
Prove finite: for to die will end their stay.
Carousing , feasting ”gerunds that we crave”
Collapse when dying claims both fair and brave.
Permissive modals” might and can and may ”
All vanish when stern must makes die our fate.
Our firmest sentences are all interred;
Our strictest syntax will disintegrate
Unless our phrases end in one sure Word:
The very parsing of our prayers will damn
All speakers not dissolved in the I AM .
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