Poem

Last time


You have to be ready because
each day something ends
and it may be years, maybe
even an entire lifetime before

you realize that it has
So you have to be ready

Of course, you can never be ready
but that is for the best, I guess -

if I knew that it was
the last time you will sit on my lap
or that I will carry you
in from the car asleep
or that I will see you
again at all
what would I do?

No, we cannot deny
the world its way
We can only bow
to its heartless wisdom

letting us part from each other
so blithely when, in fact,

we may not meet again.

11/11/03