-- Blithe Spirit -–

John Herlihy

We don’t know the future,

We don’t remember the past,

We only live within the present,

Timeless moments fixed in time,

Shades of shadow amid the light.

The bloom that lies within the bud,

The crest that mounts on the wave,

Each moment a begging bowl filled,

Our destiny along a pathway spilled

In joy and sadness our humanity lies.

Born in this body, this mind, this soul,

No lifetime as this has ever been told,

Built upon blood and sweat and effort,

Destined to die, the body as sepulcher,

A blithe spirit departs its empty world.

Between two eternities, a life lived,

Something given to someone to give,

A chance to learn, a chance to grow,

To know what we would never know,

One brief adventure where and when

Immortal, mortal, immortal once again.

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(c) John Herlihy 5 December 2018