A Life Imagined
By John Herlihy

I only live the life I imagine;
I only pursue my heart-felt dreams.
Fame and success may have their moment;
But their true import is not what it seems.

My common hours have no idle pursuits;
Nothing that in some way bears no fruits.
I live each of my days as if it were my last;
If not, I hang my head in shame, downcast.

I fill the day with sowing my fields;
Labor’s harvest has its own time to yield.
The tint of its light is of indescribable hue,
And appears at dawn and dusk as if on cue.

In the silence within, I hear higher principles,
That echo forth their compelling rhyme.
To live life according to my true nature,
To embrace in earnest the necessities of time.

When twilight comes, the day closes down,
Daylight is reduced to shadows all around.
In the evening of my life, I will still find delight;
Moon beams, star dust, catching fireflies at night.

We tend to ignore the mystery of the hour;
We let it pass by as if it had nothing to say.
True fulfillment lies in living each moment;
The path of one’s destiny will find its own way.

The life I lived is no longer imagined;
The dreams I pursued are no longer dreams.
I never doubted or forgot their hidden value;
They showed me what the highest reality means.