Life and Death

 

 

It’s in life we understand death

Never the other way around

So, let us learn what we can of life

Before death takes us down.

 

It is not by ignoring death

That we truly live

But rather, by acknowledging death,

We discover what life has to give.

 

Some call me morbid

When I daily acknowledge death

But the truth be told, I am aware

And hence, in life I am at rest.

 

I do not look forward to death

As some supposedly think I do

For living means so much more to me

And it should for you too.

 

Some, on their deathbeds,

Regretted that they had never lived,

And now that they had come to die

Their life had never fizzed.

 

A life without effervescence

Just a plain and ordinary life,

 And now this reflection as they die

Raises inner strife.

 

Rather than a peaceful transition

They experience turmoil and regret,

While it is apparent that they were dying

They had not begun to live as yet.

 

 

“Because I can no longer ignore death

I pay more attention to life.”

The words of a terminally ill woman

Grappling with her cancerous strife.

 

But she touched the lives of many

Who on her wise counsel relied

Thus, her life became the more vibrant

Though death she could not deny.

 

“Life with cancer is terminal,”

She had heard a cancer victim say

But that is a grave reality for all of us

Since death will get us some day.

 

That life will invariably end in death

Should be a sobering thought for all,

However, we need not die before we live

And regret not living when death calls.

 

Some people’s greatest moment

Comes at the memorial of their death

But unlike the living they do not hear

No matter how much eulogists impress.

 

Give me my flowers while I’m alive

Is not about the garden plant

But rather, give commendation to the hearing

Because when they die they can’t.

 

Stewart Russell © September 29, 2022