If the dead can hear the living
albeit for a while
then this they know:
“You have not left us,
you have not gone away;
you rest as firm
as some long-planted tree."
Here.
Now.
Forever.

Life is a grain of rice
is a paradox that
I have considered
for many years
to the following
conclusions.

Nothing is forever.
Everything ends ultimately.
The eternality of time
will cover all in a silence of
dust and overgrowth.  

We can but accept
the constraints of pain and time,
greed and need,
joy and love,
fear and lust,
and the paradox
of self-awareness,
and its relevance
to the grain of rice.

And the only conclusion
I can reach is that
Life is NOT a grain of rice.

I have found so much joy and peace
since I first learned how best
to embrace my inner self.

And of all the several rules
that I have decided to follow,
the most enduring and secure
are those that involve
self-belief, love and
gratification.

These may be summarized
in three simple maxims
and one simple word:
the word is “nice”.

Rule number one is to say
nice things about myself.
Rule number two is to do
nice things for myself.

Rule number three is
the most important of all
and if I obey the dictates
of this final rule, I may safely
disregard all the others.

Rule number three is simply
to have someone else
say and do nice things to me
and, above all, to
buy nice things for me.

I cannot recall
any regrets consequent
on having said "Yes".

Every moment spent
Feeling so annoyed
At anything I may have lost
Might better be employed
In celebrating all those wondrous moments
That I have enjoyed.

You burned
Like the brightest of bright flames
And,
as is always the case
with bright flames,
you were snuffed out.
Early.
Far, far too early.