A Poem to Celebrate the Beauty of Life
When I die, which will be sooner rather than later,
May I have lived like a vermillion hibiscus
Patient with my long unfurling
Until the morning of my blossoming
When, resplendent, I am satisfied and joyful
In my brief life. One single day.
May I be as an ebullient and lovely Monarch
Resting in the sun on the white pillar
Pulsing provocatively, pretending I am not glorious to see
Sated from my rapturous feeding
On the nectar of the rotting pomegranate
Necessary to the cycle of life and death
May I be easy in my leave-taking like an oak,
Long years reaching into soil and sky
To flourish until I am tired of reaching beyond my branches
But begin to lean with the weight of my majesty
And fall to earth, heaving a sigh of relief
Welcoming the blanket of lichen to take me home
In my maturity, may I be as lavish as a full blown rose
Petals gently loosening and falling silently
May the scent of my blossom linger for years in hearts
And the crisp dry petals, fragile as parchment
Retain a sweet and glorious memory
Of a life lived for the sake of beauty
And what is a life lived for the sake of beauty?
Is that enough to give meaning to death?
If we revere death as the parenthesis to birth
Then we have meaning in our unique and beautiful
Soul expressed in colour and texture, sight and sound
I am human and life is sacred. That is beautiful.
May my death come silently and peacefully
That like the hibiscus I have given myself completely
And that is enough, because I have lived.
And like the hibiscus, even in death, resplendent
Wrapping her petals in a demure spiral
Hugging her precious heart that bore creation.
~mh~