-- The Appointment --

John Herlihy

We all have a final appointment we must keep,

An appointment for which we can never be late.

A locked door finally opened our Maker to meet,

Final journey to the unknown that will never wait.

We forget its sure arrival, consider it a non-event,

Angel of death, with infinite patience, in the wings.

As a panther, silently following, from Heaven sent,

A distant bell in the backdrop that only once rings.

Death’s door upon ancient hinges that never creak,

Opened but briefly, before once again being closed.

Reducing the mighty and proudful to feelings meek,

Even the king must give up his crown, fully deposed.

Like any appointment that we have worried about,

When the time comes, we wonder at the mystery.

One moment here then gone, no protest or shout,

Taken from earth’s dream into the halls of eternity.

In more ancient times, living was an act of survival,

The passage of night as if passing thru death’s door.

Morning a sense of departure, while evening arrival,

Never will ever seem so final as the word nevermore.

A valid question on the lips: Is anyone ready to die,

The answer holds indication of a readiness to live.

In the eager breath of life now but a resigned sigh,

Death a fresh awakening as we pass thru its sieve.

Death’s door makes seeing as if for the last time,

The last breath, the last sunset, a last brief smile.

A focused awareness as if seeing for the first time,

The first breath, the first dawn, the first taken mile.

Taken aloft, lifted on wings, in skies where birds fly,

As birds unbounded by earth, set free finally to roam.

No longer earth-bound but sky-bound, in one final cry,

Through the sun-door of eternity into the celestial home.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Monday 13 December 2021