The bitter self-awareness
Of the vicinity of death
Encompasses a trauma
In a shortness of the breath,
An intellectual shrinkage
Spans diminishment of time
In impending dissolution
Of this treasured life of mine.

But mortality is mine to face
A hymnal to my fears
In that acceptance breeds compassion
For the irrational disappears
A passionate observation
Paints great empathy for life,
A vividness of being,
Of consciousness run rife.

Beyond articulation,
Beyond the poets song
Lies the grail of self-possession
In a Byzantium throng
Where the veil of comprehension
Sails upon a placid sea
And the glorious-ness of living,
In bright light, descends on me.

M.
29 October 2019
@ Foxglove in the warm, Spring sunshine