MORTALITY…

As children we know not,

As young adults we “may” see something of it,

When our parents do die, we learn for the first,

When middle age, like 50, we learn for ourselves,

We see what we never wanted,

We taste the feeling of loss,

Loss of friends, relatives we thought would never depart…

We know love, or so we hope,

We know happiness, again so we hope,

We experience pain, and loss and grief,

All we do not wish to do, but we have no choice,

That which comes with maturity is learning of our own mortality…

We are told by doctors of our own personal problems,

How did we get to this point, we never thought we would?

We see in our future our deaths, our lives coming to an end,

We are told it could be closer than we think,

Maybe through cancer, I do portend…

Caught it early, the doctors do put forth,

Many meds, many ways to keep it at bay, they say and say,

Like they are both defending their way, and keeping us from running away,

I say, don’t tell me of any problems, let it come and take me away,

I don’t want to know; I don’t care to learn, of my mortality today…

                     © ed – 6/25/04