PERHAPS
Perhaps because a lifetime is short
and because I’ve entered my end zone
Each day seems more and more
a good day to die, meaning to live well
I see the necessity, in this final phase,
to know death as a friend, as an ally toward happiness
Perhaps like a lover urgent with the desire
to birth new life into the world
Perhaps this is why I have such an urge
to create, to be a maker while I can
Does dying arrive this way, at first
as an urgent lover?
Perhaps the desire is for happiness, the real kind
Not the kind that comes from shopping
Like new life, real happiness comes from what is created
A giving more than a getting, offered with joy
Perhaps something better can be created
That possibility always captures my heart
Perhaps the best that happens is made together
Like a work party or a festa of children
Perhaps I and it are meant to be that way, filled by play
I’m not sure but certainty is not necessary
The promise of perhaps
is enough to hold my heart in a happy way
Poem by Lou Gold (2017)
Image completed 24 March 2023