To believe or not to believe...

Atheist

What lies beyond
This nervous system
Of cells and tissues
Blood and bone, flesh?

What, besides vacant
Silent airless
And vast firmament?

Like breath sucked in
And held – all is still.

And for a moment
Absence is felt
And pain sears the heart,
Then memories
Begin to fade out.

In a blinding
Flash as the body
Ends its fight to
Retain consciousness
We see the light.

No one ever
Returns as promised
Just to say Hi
No matter how strong
The love might be.

Energies dispersed
And what once was
Simply is no more.

Even as it
Appeared all mighty,
And powerful --
This conscious, sentient
Being has died.

With it went all
The thoughts, emotions
Dreams and hopes it
Had experienced
In this lifetime.

It’s astounding
To think that something
So important
Could cease to exist.

It’s easier
To imagine that
There is something,
Somehow, somewhere else.
Quite comforting.

For some it must be
The only way
To keep darkness from
Creeping in, like
Artificial light.