'Tis now we live, and only now, the rest

Is fantasy, or memory at best.

The moment is but a flower of transient beauty,

Which colours and scents our world without behest.



So caught was I in daily stress and strife,

The years passed by their loss unfelt, nor grief,

Unnoticed moment's petals dropped and died.

Would think I'd been asleep for all my life.



And then a window opened in my mind,

Had always been there veiled by a blind,

I woke! That instant all came clear at last.

One moment left my many years behind.



A single step, a crack! All fell away.

Above a foaming torrent I hung that day,

My desperate fingers slowly losing grip,

Mere moments left to live, no time to pray.



But strange! I 'found myself', while dangling there,

Cold sweat of terror on the mountain air,

To a rotten footbridge clinging in great fear,

Heart beating hard soul facing Death's despair.



A swift glance down, I trembled at the sight,

The chasm fell sheer each side in rocky might,

And far below a wild and rocky river,

All I could do was cling. Think of my plight!



O fear that had me shaking hand and knee,

At the sight of my appalling destiny,

How was it that this bridge so fragile now,

When for so long had seemed so strong to me?



Truth to tell it was a shock to know,

The neglected bridge had become decrepit so,

It's timbers cracked and missing many treads,

Nothing to save me from the rocks below.



And so I hung above the abyss dread,

Unable to take a further step ahead,

It surely is man's fate to finally fall,

A broken body in Death's dismal bed.



For do we ever reach the farther shore,

Without we fall into Death's waiting maw?

That oblivion awaits us all is Life's predict,

How then make meaning of the final door?



For what is Life but a bridge across a canyon,

The way we cross it thus we measure man.

So Reader, learn from my life's fatal flaw,

Take Death's awareness as your life-companion.



His presence in your life should you embrace,

Remembered well the realities you face,

Thus will stay alive your sharpened senses,

And make full meaning of your life's essay.



Ensure you keep in mind the dread Abyss,

Not to live your life in full would be remiss,

Live well the precious moments of each day.

Be sure to smell each flower along your Way.