A Fear Growing in My Heart

A fear was growing
in my heart: I smelled
the putrid odor of my grave
around me. The new, silken
drapes on the door silently regretted
my coming death: Soon
we will remain without you.
How stupid that I prepare
for death with silk.
With strange sadness I thought
that I would not have any silk curtains
or even any underwear of silk
in my earthy alcove.
Suddenly I said to myself:
your limbs are like limbs carved
from ivory. My terror
dispersed like smoke.
I was sheltered from death.