XVII- Sonnet towards Death

I’ve started to live in another time -
when I’m out of the house the lights switch on
in rooms I’ve abandoned to the mime
of myself which carries on while I’m gone

secret light discovers me in my room
and pours upon my skin to what effect
as if I were a foetus in the womb
having to be scanned for my defects

this singular life I lead is my death
which I’m finding not dark but strangely bright -
just as I was born and had to draw breath
so I’ll be delivered into that light

in which I am dark and surely hidden
watching the end toward which I’m driven

Oxford
8 May 2018