DMACC Creative Writing Guild

Living

These solitary verses I pen,
so that you will know that once, I lived and breathed—
as sure as you are breathing now.

Though still my breast lies now,
stilled the heart that used to beat,
and long since ceased
the hand that held this pen.
Cheeks on which roses used to bloom
Eyes in which stars used to shine.
Once my laugh was heard.

Though they forget my name,
I thought and lived, all the same.
And I felt the bitter-sweetness—
pangs of love, hate, despair and sorrow
but followed for me a brighter tomorrow.

Mortal are we, dust granted
but a breath of life;
a short waking hour,
like a rain-beaten flower,
to make itself known
and then be swallowed
back up into the abyss.
Though our souls live eternal
for good or ill –the mighty hand
of Death our hearts doth still.

Only if we hold the key—
behind held out for all who will see
Now I quietly lie beneath some aged green tree
but you can be assured that once I lived—as sure as you live now
as did all who beneath the green earth now lie—
we live, we breath, we love, and then we die.