Sunroof: Poem for a Friend’s Birthday
Tom’s 20th, July 2017
WHAT IS THIS LIFE OF OURS? Where does it lead — ?
Where it goes we cannot say,
All we know, all we care to think about
Are the pathways of the day:
The sun rises, falls; shines, declines.
It is up to us whether we burn or glow;
Do we embrace the heat of this source,
or do we remain unsure and flow
With the tides of the world
And the words that pass
O’er our heads and through our eyes?
It is hard to say: I cannot tell you, I’m afraid.
The current is fast, the waters too wide.
Do not tip in a toe, do not test the temperature —
Submerge your foot completely!
This is no time of hesitation, to be uncertain:
Seize the moments that are fleeting!
What is this life of ours? Who knows, who knows…
Not I, nor you, so we must wait —
It is then, into the recess of the future:
it is then, our time to take.
