Such is life

Only life,
in all its vibrant colors
and peculiar shapes,
can grab you
by the whisp of your hair
Only life can hurl
you into a tragic doom
when there was once
happiness in the air
and then sudden gloom

Take for example,
the quaking grounds
of a now old Nepal
or the silent road
that suddenly
engulfed my mother
and took her
from everything sweet;
took away the pillars of me
that lie in her feet

Or perhaps the children maimed
in Afghanistan
to prove a religiously
political point
And the children that should be playing
are now training to do the slaying
In another country,
same moment as one's death,
a child is born.  Rebirth
Life is funny that way,
amazingly sweet
and bitter too;
so easy to misconstrue

Today's breath
can be so easily distorted
and lapse silently
into tomorrow's emptiness

Such is life