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# The Business of Life and Death
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/the-business-of-life-and-death/
- Published: 2022-01-31T00:20:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:03:01.000Z
- Description: Suppose I grant you the premise of your question. Should I gather up my limbs at once and build something immortal with them? What could I construct to outlast the drowsy calm of this moment?
- Author: Andy
- Tags: poetry, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

It seems inconceivable,  
reading on a couch on a Sunday afternoon,  
that one day I’ll die  
and my decades of warmth will release  
back into the sky’s body  
and my footprints will wear away  
like a pillow forgetting the shape  
of a face.

Suppose I grant you the premise of your question.

Should I gather up my limbs at once  
and build something immortal with them?

What could I construct to outlast  
the drowsy calm of this moment?

I have seen too much destruction already. Limbs  
torn down to make way for greed, or, worse,  
the illusion of grandeur; lakes drained  
and whole towns gathered at the shore, aching  
for how the waters used to feed winter’s light;  
moss ripped up lest someone trip and fall.

No, it’s safer here. Come, rest your cheek  
on my chest. Touch your bruises to mine.  
Let others dig graves, pick flowers, chisel  
monuments, draft wills, prepare eulogies.  
So long as we embrace, passing warmth  
between us like breath or fresh bread,  
what reason do we have to worry  
about the business of life and death?