The Door Of Darkness

THE DOOR OF DARKNESS 1

Now I live and have my being,
Think and wonder, act and feel.
Grasp it hard, for time is fleeing;
Is it true that this is real?

What is real is made inside me,
Tended daily, piece by piece.
No matter that my foes deride me,
An insight that can never cease.

So meaning is for me to fashion,
And form a matrix deep and wide.
To bring a new, compelling passion;
My purpose cannot be denied.

But things outside will change and vary,
Nothing ever stays the same.
Challenges emerge as scary;
Force me to adjust my aim

If we would deny the painful,
Sometimes life cannot be calm.
In a sense we miss the gainful,
Avoiding wounds and shunning harm.

No matter how we run and juggle,
Fighting chance with every breath.
Accepting fate is worth the struggle,
Live out our life, face up to death.

In the spotlight of reflection,
Good and bad and kind and mean.
Can I make a true correction?
For what I’ve ever done or been?

For who can know and who can say
Which way tomorrow’s wind will blow?
So each of us must find a way
To conquer fear before we go.

Else we plunge into the void,
Howling that we should not go.
What is a man who will avoid
Reality that all should know.

Threescore and ten, the Bible tells us
Our lot upon this earth to dwell.
Unyielding time at last compels us
To bid our world a last farewell.

Footnotes
1  Strange, is it not that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of darkness through
Not one returns to tell us of the path
Which to discover, we must travel too.

Edward Fitzgerald
The Rubbaiyat of Omar Khayyam