There is More to Life Than Living

There is more to life than the living

I, like you, have seen heroism birthed after death

While skepticism runs in our gray matter roads

so does a deeper knowing and gnawing that keeps repeating the question

Doesn’t the nuances of this existence linger well after our voices fade?

-memories of souls, constants like stars guide us in the stillness

Can’t you feel that?  That those who lived before us whisper in our ears

Have you not been touched by an intangible presence?

Even the written words in centuries long ago

scribbled and ascribed by candlelight, comfort and guide us.

It’s true that bodies can and will go to dust, but something remains

a cloud of witnesses that shadow us, protect us

I picture the long awaited rest that has come and I find I am smiling

they are free of pain and angst, running and moving with the wind

yes, this living is for those cumbered and bumbling with bodies not yet fluid

fighting to dream, fighting to realize fully and engage completely,

fighting to love unconditionally and take back the ground we wear on our soles

Hoping to redeem the days, longing to have the freedom of vapor

filling completely the void and lack

…but while we remain

we sing and chant mantras while marching in this space

to remember and consider those whose footsteps we trace

they have gone to perfect rest

knowing this truth ~ there is more to this life than the living