STAYING ALIVE

 

 

STAYING ALIVE

 

Because what we now have is a life

we will never have again, something

as unrepeatable as living or dying,

we drink to it as often as we turn down

an empty cup, and learn to forgive

what was given or not, noblese oblige,

coming as we do to this strange place

without as much as a warning or even

our consent. We did not know. 

Because we did not plan to be born,

is it too vexing to learn--perhaps

to revel in--the myriad acts of loving,

of living, and in return be grateful

to perform the surprisingly magical art

of shaping life, nurturing it, finding it

where no one would lead us, blind

as we are to this fire in our weak loins? 

Was that left behind by a rushed maker,

like a spare screw, and we had to find

where it would fit snugly, divinely apt

and delicately, deliciously, our manner

of staying alive when dying is better?

 

--- ALBERT B. CASUGA