Wycliff Matanda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and psychology from the University of Alberta. Wycliff graduated from Athabasca University’s MAIS program in 2016. He has published peer-reviewed articles for Psych Central and the Journal of Integrated Studies. Wycliff’s research and writing interests lay in existential psychology and Jungian Theory.

ABSTRACT

In the poem, death, and life are intertwined. Death cannot exist without life. Equally important, life acquires meaning within the context of death.

At the beginning of the poem, the author nervously misspeaks and has a slip-of-the-tongue moment by saying “life and dearth,” while, attempting to recite the actual idiom: “a matter of life and death”. Simultaneously, life (which indicates presence) is juxtaposed against terms that signify scarcity. In the opening lines, the author is trying to convey that few things in life are certain: debt and most importantly, death.

The true realization of our mortality consists of a precarious relationship between anxiety, awe, and mystery. Throughout the poem, cultural symbols of death remind us of our mortality. Ultimately, our looming death provides a lens through which we can make sense of life and extract infinite meaning amidst existential angst.

Circle of Death

Life and dearth

Or is it life and debt?

To misspeak

Life and death

You loan a life

Only to reclaim the lone life

Your existence allows new life

Can we buy time?

Before you come by

And we have to say bye

Slithering slyly like a serpent

Cunning crafty canny

The usurper of life

A life for a life

You arrive anon!

Yet unknown

Tiptoeing, you creep up with time

Slow speedy suddenly!

Nonsensical and nimble

Your news is grave

Coming from the grave

A ghost or a gust?

The living dead, spoof!

Harbingers of what is to come

Suspended in purgatory and limbo

Let us pray, then let us prey

Worm food, six feet under

Pushing up daisies

A bird’s-eye view paints a scenic picture

Visions of crows, ravens, vultures aloof

Feasting on cold cut carrion

In hindsight, it comes in threes

Withal, you inspire and awe

Beauty amidst your ugliness

Leaves fall in the fall

The dead of winter

Cold black ice

Life in abeyance

Only to spring new life

Beauty blossoms like lilies

Novelty in a never-ending cycle

Wrest is for the weary

Now we rest in peace

Half-past the hour

A morning of mourning

Gang way! A celebration of life

Half-mast at half-past

Black cars, black attire, black bile

Posthumously morph into sanguine

Black bile bubbles into blood humour

Croaked, took a dirt nap, kicked the can

Tombstones, obituaries, urns

Names to the dearly departed faces

Mortality embodied in flesh

Legacies, lineages, lives

Immortality incarnate