Sestina Day 21: Predicting My Death.

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem predicting your own death. The words were suggested by my Awkward-twin Ayana Smythe, who I thought would appreciate the morbid theme.
Perversely, it came out mildly uplifting. Any interested deities should take careful note of option 2.

I will be buried deep in loam and clay
And Sheffield soil. No longer taste pink ginger
Dancing on my tongue. In life, was I too forthright?
(I’ll wonder, in my grave.) Was I a failure?
As ivy, dark green, bordered with chartreuse,
Obscures my only epitaph: “Dead Queer”.

Once dead and buried, will I still be queer?
Identities are mutable as clay.
A spectrum where I tended to chartreuse
In death turns monochrome. Or worse, turns ginger.
As what I was decays and rusts to failure.
Because in death I am no longer forthright

And will my death be brought about by forthright-
Ness? This combination: loud and queer,
Will that finish me off, with my own failure
To spot some violent thug as thick as clay
Who hates the queer, the foreign and the ginger,
And beats me till I’m black, blue and chartreuse?

Or no; at 90, dressed in silk chartreuse
A grande dame with a knack for being forthright,
While sipping at my morning cup of ginger
Tea? No. beer? No. Wine. Still proud and queer.
While planning to mould something out of clay
I’ll have a gentle coronary failure.

Or maybe all the stress of constant failure
Will cause my skin to fade to pale chartreuse.
my fingers slow and heavy as the clay,
Not having any courage to be forthright,
I’ll dither to my grave, a frightened queer.
Regretting never daring to go ginger.

But each day brings wasabi and pink ginger.
To take away the aftertaste of failure.
It’s not straightforward. Life itself is queer.
Your grass is greener. Mine is bright chartreuse.
Don’t dwell on death. Be brave and glad and forthright
For soon enough you’ll sleep within the clay.

Although it’s queer, life’s tasty, just like ginger.
And death’s like clay. More grey than bright chartreuse.
Do not fear failure. Have a laugh. Be forthright.