Nobody wants to die, not even those

who want to says my Sunday School teacher
and I'm not sure how she knows unless she's
one of those who wants to, who wants to die
that is, so after Sunday School when we
and God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost
were all alone in the classroom I asked
her if she herself wanted to be snuffed
or would even snuff herself--she laughed and
said No, Dear Boy, I'm perfectly content,
what about you and I'm failing fourth grade
and my mutt got run over last week and
my birthday's not for nearly another
year and I never get what I want, just
what I don't, like life. Oh, I'm fine I say.

Gale Acuff has had hundreds of poems published in a dozen countries. He has taught tertiary English courses in the US, China, and Palestine.