There are opportunities
In life
That, when taken,
Change the course
Of that life
Forever.
Those opportunities can be
In any manner of kinds,
Sometimes financial,
Or in one's career,
Or even in one's
Relationships;
But, sometimes,
Those opportunities
Bring much more profound
Change.
There have been times
When I've stared death
In the face,
Death not of natural causes
Nor of accidental ones,
But of my own choice,
And always I have battled back.
Still, though at those times
I chose life,
The choice was a mere
Band-Aid
Because I knew
It was a choice I would have to make
Time and again.
In recent years,
With growing speed,
I've watched those I trusted,
Those I loved,
Turn away;
I've lost friends of long years,
And those more recent,
As they, too, walked away;
I've lost things more precious
Than most can fathom,
Until, tonight,
I realized
How little I still held.
In times past
These would have meant
The making of the other choice,
The one I fought so valiantly;
Instead, a calm settled over me,
An acceptance,
A wry acknowledgment
Of strength honed
By the trials of the past,
And of faith
That will not let me die,
And I realized
I had made my choice
Perhaps once and for all
To live,
To embrace all that I
Still have
And to anticipate
That which is to come.
To be full,
I am told,
One must first empty,
Leaving ample room
For the new
To replace the old.
So I live
Knowing my old life
Has finally ended
And a new one
Has just begun.