Seneca for Ferdie

Awake! Before you rise out of your bed
Think first on all the ways you could be dead
Before the day is through. You managed not
To suffocate there in your sleep; you're hot
Instead of deathly cold. But you could trip
On shoes or clothes -- perhaps you'd even slip
There in the shower -- both would dash your brains
Upon the floor. You could have stomach pains
From gas -- or maybe it's a virus which
Could cause such pain you'd drive into a ditch
As you drove off to work. Of course the drive
Could kill you in an accident; arrive,
And you could be run over on the street
You need to cross to get to work. Defeat
Cold death, and he can get you on the stairs.
(You work outside? You could be food for bears.)
At work, you could fall off your chair or die
In workplace violence. You cannot deny
The ways your job can kill you, either now,
Or over time. Each job you must endow,
My friend, with ways of killing you before
Retirement. But if you hit the door
At quitting time, you must survive the trip
Back home; arrive there safely, and you'll slip
The minute you walk through the door.
We'll find you lying dead upon the floor.
And now you're ready to get up and out
Of bed. And now you can proceed, no doubt,
With certainty and joy your life won't be
The day you had, above. And now you're free.