Five minutes before...

These minutes crush the soul with heavy weight,
Where seconds stretch to hours, a decade's fate.
One thought alone keeps burning in my mind:
"Just let this moment pass, eternity be kind."

I grieved for me, then turned to days long past,
Forgave my kin, my friends, and foes at last.
I thought on sweet and sinful things I'd hide,
And whispered to the Lord: "Why were You so unkind?"


But only one short minute slipped away,
While four more wait to bleed out day by day.
Perhaps it's true — some dark sprite clouds my sight,
I long to drown in sleep or howl into the night.

But sleep won't come — I count them, one by one.
You cannot take deep breaths — what's done is done.
Around me buzz the gnats that never cease,
Through bars, a sliver cuts the dark to grant release.

It's truly terrifying, knowing I'm undone,
The blind Fates cut the thread — my race is run.
I'll see no sunset rise, no morning sun,
Won't lie beside my wife, drink friends beneath the sky.

Are five minutes too much? Or far too few?
The guards now drink their vodka, voices crude.
One step between my flesh and empty fall,
Be still, my soul, just weep — you'll face it all.

And now it's done — this dreadful time has passed,
And nothing that I was will ever last.
Five minutes — such a heavy, endless load,
A flash, a strike, a searing pain... I've paid the final toll. All...