As I walk and rustle the dead leaves
Blown by the biting blustery wind
I recall with sadness where lilies
Used to blossom and joyously grow:
Where are they all gone to now
And why is mother nature so unkind?
As I stroll heavy-hearted by the creek
Where black-capped cheeky chicadees
Pipe to us tunes that coyingly seek
To lure us to their frost-dusted trees,
I think to myself in silent reverence
How life passes like a dream-like trance!
Now the last sere leaves have fallen
And winter clouds have come again
To darken the light of day.
Strange voices come out of nowhere
Which I thought never to hear,
Echoes of the mind that never go away.
They tell of loves of a bygone season,
Of secrets shared by blazing hearths
Of reckless nights of thoughtless passion
When the stars that shone o'er earth's
Blessed orb seemed to shine just for me:
Love is an illusion that lures us like the sea.
The flowers that used to tease the eye
Will again lure the birds to hidden delight
And the sun that once warmed the sky
Will smile anew with life-giving light;
But will it be the same when I die?
Will you forget me without even a sigh?
Winter comes with the year's dying breath;
It shrouds all life in solemn stillness
As if to remind us we're close to death
And there is no such thing as endlessness:
Immortality is a dream to fool the mind:
Without it, can man know joy of any kind?
God never lets us know whence we came
Nor the day nor the time of our final voyage.
From beginning to end, life is a game:
We are the gladiators and the earth the stage
And Fate is the Keeper that rolls the dice:
But who decides in the end who lives, who dies?
Fit musings for a bleak winter eve
When all is dreary like a wake ;
Why must we die when it's so nice to live,
Love and crave happiness for its own sake?
Past, present and future are all one
As we are, so will we be, when all is done!
Claudio Wye
