Nightmare

I dreamt last night that I was taken away,
Part of an unpopular plan for population reduction.
As I faced the prospect of imminent death,
Of my lungs gasping for air and never being filled,
I thought of all the words I'd left unsaid,
All the poems I'd never finished writing and would never be able to,
Of the goodbyes I wasn't ready to say
And I was scared that I was wrong.
That there is nothing after this
Except an inevitable oblivion.
Because if nothing comes next
Then there's a reason to be scared
Because the goodbyes I didn't have time to say would be meaningless
And the poems in my head would remain eternally unwritten
And you would never hear the words I had waited to say.
And I gasped, feeling like my lungs wouldn't fill with air no matter how hard I tried.
But though the prospect of imminent death is real,
There is no plan for population reduction.
It was just something I dreamt last night.