Visiting Peter several times inspired this poem.
I thought of how seeing someone off on a journey is usually an act of support and recognition. But here, when embarking on this greatest journey of all, we're faced with a person in no shape to be going anywhere.
But maybe that's where the lessons come in...
"Embarking"
See him before he leaves,
Recognize this milestone.
He’s off on a journey,
He’s embarking all alone.
His loved ones go see him,
Support his solo flight
Into a vast unknown,
Unsure when they’ll reunite.
Most journeys are exciting,
Some faced with nervousness.
All usually taken
For one’s life improvement.
So goodbyes are balanced
With congratulations,
Received with hearty smiles
Of him whose time here is done.
But no smiles on this man,
Nor on his visitors.
It’s not his life's next journey,
But his one beyond this world.
Silence from the thinning man,
Broken with heaving wet cough.
We’d rather not recall
Him here as he sets off.
So while the final time,
A difficult paradox:
All the reason to be here;
all the reason to not.
No wonder we fear going
From this life to the next.
Such an ugly experience!
Witness: life’s antithesis
Seems inappropriate
For our life’s final show,
To be marked by a display
So pitiful and low.
But maybe that’s the point,
Being stripped down to our breath:
the core aspect of life,
Not status, looks, or wealth.
To see what’s last to go,
When stripped of his ego,
Just with that without which
We have nothing at all.
And lest we leave in our prime,
A lingering will be our end.
Not just pain, but lessons
For our family and friends.
Loved ones present as we
Bridge this life to the next,
See the vastness of it all.
What an experience!
Not a bad way to embark,
Leaving something to give.
Loved ones not just seeing death,
But learning how to live.