Live A Little

Originally appeared in “Ghost Poems”, one of my nine chapbooks of poetry self-published between the years 1999-2004:

Is this what it all comes down to?
We live a little
Never fully understanding the mechanics of self
or the purpose of these physics in motion
We just plug along each new day and
try to make our way
and then we die
No matter our endeavors
Never mind our efforts
It’s inevitable
It always turns out the same
This is why it’s so very important
to closely examine our usage of time
perhaps reevaluate what really counts
Because it always turns out the same:
a little life, a lot of death
Sometimes I feel like a ghost
moving through each new day
each new frame of this light and dark system
A phantom in my own world
Invisible, insignificant
to the proceedings around me
But I know all what’s come to be
is an illusion
The strange evolution
which has come to pass so quickly
all a passing dream
And I know there must be something more
An essence of something true
A common grain
which always stays
despite the fallen garden