Survivors

Survivors

Monday, September 16, 2013

“…but what if I should die before my time?”


“…but what if I should die before my time?”
--Then everyone I leave behind
will have more leisure to amend
memories, to paint anew 
the picture of this life; I’d find
ways to hide in dreams unsought,
in their new found imaginings,
adding texture to a gentling dark
that soothes all grieving senseless numb.

What if I knew the very day?
That secret would I most deny.
Every hour already holds
all the hurts the world may bring:
times endured with fair surprise,
a shrug perhaps, or nodding wise,
to note the transit of all things.
I would not tax our slender joys
with my precipitous goodbyes.

And what would be the final wish?
I would not cling to easy hopes
of saints and raptures waiting by.
I mean to quietly greet the night,
with modesty and middling calm,
to gaze on the receding light
‘til life’s safe harbor slips from sight,
and all distinctions disappear.

Savoring peace as clamors flee,
the thought of you still standing near.


(A new post for Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads
http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/
and d’Verse OLN
www.dversepoets.com)