Here Lies Sir Ender

"The common human impulse
To entertain, even in
A hospital room," obtains.

I am flirting shamelessly
With six forms of disaster,
Abusing body and bank

Accounts while coyly returning
To temporary safety
Each time disaster flirts back.

I'm cheerful on a gurney,
Polite before surgery.
Even in a prisonhouse,

I'm the amiable sort.
If I could be a good host
After giving up the ghost,

That would suit me perfectly.
I'm saying this now so that,
When I finally elope

With disaster, you have this
String of self-deprecating
Chat to remember me by,

In the hope, eventually,
You'll think of genial me
And smile when I haunt your dreams.