As You Left

David Meyer, October 1, 2004

As you left

          I only knew for sure that I, too, would go

As you passed

          I asked in silence why not me

As sure as you were gone

          I was sure I would not stay

As you grew cold

          I watched myself grow very still

As you faded off in time

          I observed as I returned to dust

As you slipped away

          I found it made no real sense

As you parted company

          I dwelt upon my own farewells

As you moved on

          I caught a glimpse of all our pathways merging

As you disappeared

          I could see my own outline growing fainter

As you turned away

          I witnessed that there is nowhere left to turn

As you left us

          I felt the guilt of the living

As you sailed off

          I thought of myself sinking

As you grew so still

          I did not want to move

As you went off all alone

          I saw me leaving by myself as well

Dozing There Forever In A Single Blink Of Time

silver-haired blind man in a checkered flannel shirt strokes a purring calico tomcat

          both comfortable with that black wool blanket covering his lap

purring calico tomcat soothes the man's rough and work-hardened hands

          as he weighs the value of his long ago against the shortly sure to come

blind man feels the sun through the open window on his craggy face and smiles

          rumbling calico tomcat shifts and switches purring gears

they both enjoy the silence, the peace and tranquility

          they seem so safely anchored in this place and time

clouds but then just passing, stir the petals of a red tulip

          blind man emits a sigh, calico cat unruffled continues on his ride

god looks down upon the blind man staring within himself

          god strokes the purring tomcat just behind his ear

behold the ancient blind man with nothing left to fear

          quite content that calico tomcat lies, very still and very near

silver-haired with flaring nostrils, thickened ears and wrinkled skin

          no good no more for working, cannot bring home any pay

calico cat was born to leisure, sleeping twenty hours every day

          blind man can feel his spots with ease due to different temperatures

silver-haired blind man in a checkered shirt, wise old tomcat in his spotted coat

          dozing there forever in a single blink of time

no more howling at the moon, no more gnashing of the teeth

          silver-haired old blind man considers carefully his each and every move

with the cat upon his lap and the flowers in the garden

          blind man in a small room with a window, on a sunny autumn afternoon

                  

with the help of the cat and the ticking of a clock

          he traces out the warm sun's shadow as it moves across his tidy space

Always Here For You, Too

I began my work shortly after the first organisms somehow appeared

          They did not last long and I was here to take them back

I know not from where I spring but my function is to return life to the void

          I travel everywhere that life goes - all those places but nowhere else

Without any feeling I relieve you of your every understanding

          I am not offended if you should not accept me, even in the end

I make no deals and cast no bargains and steal closer every single moment

          I have neither voice nor mercy and lack any mind to understand you

I am not cruel or happy and I merely see you off to a place where I can never go

          You cannot imagine me, you will not remember me and I do not know you

I am neither harsh nor cruel, but you can make of me what you will

          I attend your murders, suicides, plagues and starvation - all just alike

You need not fear me any more than you feared your long forgotten birth

          Horrid suffering and evil torture are not even what I am about

But, as pain and anguish may arrive before me, many welcome me in my time

          Often it appears that I am early, but there cannot ever be a mistake

I come to join you forever more to wherever it was that you once emerged

          Behold, I come to honor only the living and not for stone or water

Though I offer no form of gospel, none will be ignored, faithful or not

          Many seek to look beyond me but that is none of my concern

I spend moments with all the bugs, the birds and the plants as well as you

          I witness the end of every detail of the life force in all of the universe

Whether you pass away in silken sheets or bleeding out in filth, it matters not

          I take you away from all this, ignorant of the promises of your faiths

I always travel with you, but linger not a moment when you are gone

          You pass empty again into that void from which all life has surged

I am but a form emerging from your imagination of that which is beyond you

          I am that passage which rejoins you once again with the inanimate

I do not revel in your mass slaughters, and each and every one still gets their moment

          Famine, plague and war summon me to many places, all at once

I am universal and have been unavoidable ever since the first living cell

          I have no face, but your imaginations have lent me many images

The very fact that I am always there goads many into fevered actions

          Regardless of the acts or players the final scene must be the same

I know nothing of the hopeless struggle in which you so joyfully partake

          But be sure that I, too, should love life, for without it, neither do I exist

I have spawned the faith which quiets your lonely desperation

          Truth be told, you need no faith to draw strength from my absolute certainty

I mark the entropy which must always counter the organization of the life force

          When I began and my ultimate future are questions I cannot ask        

All your gods demand belief that will ensure your spirit survives your body

          any post-mortem accounting of such faiths do not affect my actions

I am not alive and I have no soul or consciousness but I am only for the living

          They represent me with skulls but these are as simple stones to me

I can know nothing of your actions, history, families or your dearest beliefs

          There is no lingering on my part when once the life has left you

I am a shadow passing at the start of a dreamless sleep from which there is no awakening

          I cannot answer any questions and am unable to foster any illusions

I am here for you, be you rich or poor, ugly or handsome, young or very old

          I will not mock you and I know nothing of so-called good and evil

I walk always in your shadow until that moment in which we are briefly joined

          I promise you nothing except the absolute certainty of our meeting

Some beg for mercy but I have no way of listening or any kind of understanding

          I arrive at the very end of every lifetime and join it for but an instant

I know nothing of saviors, re-incarnation, souls or the great wheel of life

          I do not learn and, for me, time does not exist

I cannot retain any memories, just like you once were and will forever be

          Quantum chance always summons me because nothing is really scripted

Even though you witness me time and again, my mystery always remains

          You understand the biology but the metaphysics will forever remain beyond you

Chapel Of Bones

As you now are

          So once were we

As we are now

          so you will be

so once we lived

          as you live now

so soon change we all

          as you see how

as you walk today

          so once we traveled

as we lie still

          so your lives unravel

so once we laughed

          as your laughter now echoes

so quickly follows silence

          when one’s breathing goes

as you leave today

          so once left we

as we lay tonight

          so will you stay

so once we prayed

          like you meditate

so soothing your voices

          as day grows late

as you gaze down

          so gazed we cruelly

as you are drawn

          so were we quite truly

so once we cried

          as you grow quiet

so moist your firm cheeks

          our tears long dried

as you quickly forget

          we forgot those before

as we are forgotten

          so are your regrets

so once we journeyed

          as you now travel

so still our bones

          as we have learned

as you now love

          so loved we then

as you grow old

          so came our end

so once we played

          as frolic your children

as you grow older

          so our flesh decayed