The Rot Begins in the Gut
The stomach acid burns through its own wall at hour six,
the enzymes that digested dinner now digest the fix
of the body that produced them, the autodigestion starting
in the cavity where the bacteria are charting
their escape from the intestinal, the great migration
of the gut flora colonizing every station
of the body that once housed them as a guest,
and the rot begins in the gut because the gut knows best.
The pancreas dissolves itself, the liver follows suit,
the bile spilling free to stain the tissue at the root
of every organ system that once functioned as a team,
and the body is unraveling at every seam.
The lungs go spongy, soft, collapsing inward on the frame,
the heart becomes a bag of clot that no longer has a claim
on the blood it used to circulate with mechanical precision,
and the rot proceeds with democratic indecision
about which organ to swallow whole next.
We are all digesting ourselves.
Right now. While alive.
The difference is we keep up with the damage.
Death is just falling behind.