It is clear it is time to plan
for the very day I am to die.
Each of us has this special day
which will soon be carved in stone.
And each of us has the right
to set that part of the agenda,
not in the hands of physiology.
Before I go on to that long nothingness
I would like to hear Duke play Satin Doll
one last time.
I want a most familiar voice to read me Jeffers's
death-bed poem: "The Bed by the Window."
I want to hold in my hands
as many of my books
as I can.
If it is spring I want
to look at my daffodils.
And bring me Raton so I can assure her
that she will be well cared for.
I would like to look at my
several prints of the Berkeley campanile
and hear the bells of the past ring.
I want to hear all my children laughingly
remind me of all the 4ths we had.
Grandchildren and great grandchildren
will voice the happy "I am swimming" shout.
And since this time I need not worry about indigestions
so huevos rancheros washed down
with a bloody Mary for breakfast.
And the last meal is to be corn on the cob and
barbecued ribs with a very good Zin.
I beg you not to lower the flag to half-mast,
as it always makes folks so sad.
And I could not stand their asking
and "who the heck was he?"
Now plan no service for me.
Let me do my funeral my way.
One last 4th of July barbecue
will do most to cast me
in my time and place..
And please someone say:
" he lived in the best of times
and lived it as well or better than
anyone could."
Doug Minnis
April 4,2010