Life and Death Conversation

Looked into
his eyes
wide, bright,
alert and wise,
He said:
With this year
practically
all my friends
have passed,
And you know,
I’ve thought
often since then
to myself:
So
my friend
this
Is how people
Die.

I reach into my
trusted bag
of years
And pull out
all the proper
gems of knowledge,
All my little bits of
trial and error,
experience and faith,
my sweat and tears,
and yet
only now
is it that I know
that
this
is how people
Die.

I circumvent
the years
with common sense
And discipline,
efficient action
considered and
carefully applied.
It seems as if
I’ve lived
a million years,
and yet only now
is it
that I’ve learned
that
this
is
how people
Die.

I have learned
the love,
the comings,
and the goings
Of mother, wife,
and friend,
The joy and solace
of my arrows,
sons and daughters;
what it means
to truly
be alive,
And so I strive
on my own,
In

my own way,
always doing
more with less.
Yet it’s only now
that I know
that
this
is how people
Die .

And I know
inspired or not
by love or care,
there comes a time
when the artifice
of human effort
fails
and only
fate presides
above it all.
Only now
do I truly know
That
this
is how
people

Die.