-- Regretful the Feeling --
by John Herlihy
Regretful the feeling
That I have never died before.
How the mind is reeling,
Standing now at death’s door.
As a child, the future wide-spread,
No permanent obstacle in the road.
To stride into the future with firm tread,
With nothing to lose and nothing owed.
Then the cut of a thousand deaths,
That our brief life always contains.
What the use of the myriad breaths,
When only one last breath remains.
Tradition tells us die before you die,
Death less of a frightening thought.
When the time comes to say goodbye,
The life-long worry all for naught.
To go thru life with death on a sleeve,
As in the luck of a chance meeting.
A door simply opens, you take leave,
Your peaceful repose no longer fleeting.
Ah, the unmapped country of death,
That seemingly invites people at random.
Yet we never think of our last breath,
To steal us away as a thieving phantom.
In the face of death, let us stand proud,
An encounter that will never be missed.
The body wrapped in a white shroud,
The awakened soul by the Spirit kissed.
- - - - - -
Copyright ©John Herlihy
Saturday 20 April 2024
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In every life there are probably some regrets. I can think of quite a few, but according to some accounts of terrible people suffering a great deal before they died, I don't think I'm going to go that way. I see it more like you seem to see it, is just another stage in every life like conception and birth. Some don't even make it past those 2 early barriers, not to mention being able to live into old age. When we began to reminisce and wonder what our guests will be like and whether or not anyone will care that we live or die.
I hope to go out like some of the greats, I can think of Beethoven right off hand producing his greatest work; I believe it was called Requiem, when he could no longer hear, similar to the way I'm going. But perhaps not hearing is a good thing because any gossip or ill discussion around you is not heard or even worried about.
Ron