Dying by Degrees

There were some who died right away.
The pandemic revealed the supply lines to be so fragile
That the stores could no longer stock their favorite flavor
Of pop-tarts.

Mind you, they had all the other flavors,
Just not the flavor that I eat
The frosted blueberry swirl
And so death was not far away for that one.

Others died a few more meters down the supply line
Victims of inconvenience
When they didn’t have my brand of pickles
When the waxing professional I used disappeared one day
When you could no longer get toothpicks.

There were many, many, who dropped along these intermediate lines.
You found their bodies in the aisle with the cereal boxes
Or the chips.

Then there were some who held out until the leaves fell off of all the trees
Until all the crickets vanished
Until there were no more bees
Until the cardinals stopped coming in the Spring.

These died of romance,
Which is a nobler death.

Finally there were those who survived everything
All the inconvenience
All the humiliations
All the famine of spirit

Until there was no more food.
Until the water was poisoned.
Until they choked on plastic
Until they were swept by storm out to sea
Until the oceans all burned, and the moon cracked and fell from the sky.

And who is to say these last
Died the more sensible of deaths?