You go through your life
as if you’re on earth forever
you forget that
you’re only here temporarily
and that at any moment
what happens only
to other people
can happen to you
until that day arrives
when you are that
other person
and a tragedy strikes
and you find yourself
in a hospital bed
for the first time in your life
except when you were born
and the truth hits you
like a sledgehammer
that you are clinging to your life
like you never imagined
and you wake up
to your impermanence
in this unpredictable world
and you start praying
fervent foxhole prayers
hoping God will somehow
spare your tenuous life
before the lights go out
and you are no longer
the other or any kind of person
and maybe if the
wondrous near death
experiences reports
are really true
you become alive
in the eternal afterlife
and meet the real you
imbibing the cosmic bliss
of unending unconditional love
Bob Boyd
