Revision suggested by Jean Jones…

The Hanged Man

I am the hanged man
a noose around my neck
swinging back and forth
back and forth
like the hands on a grandfather's clock
tick tock
tick tock
dangling somewhere
between
earth and hell...

I am death itself.

Some say suffering
is optional
but I think
it is more a matter
of fate...

Perhaps,
I'm paying the price
in some reincarnated life
of some past
sins
which I cannot
recall.

Perhaps that is why

Suffering
is just a matter of degrees
in this reincarnated life
among several
reincarnated lives
all leading toward
some final
place in heaven. . .

Nothing else
makes much sense
about this existence...

by Bruce Whealton