letting go

from a distance
letting go takes one’s breath
a symphony of amber, crimson, 
gold, emerald summer flare 
fading, cool winds of change 
wooing us to dance like dervishes 
to break free of all bounds, to ride
the gale with abandon, to flutter 
softly to the earth, in afterglow 
of ecstasy, to drink the dew, to sleep
letting go takes one’s breath
from a distance 

when one draws near
there’s no denying truth
clarity, reality, convey a somber 
view of brittle bones, age-dappled 
skin, fragile veins, the cusp of 
death, spring, summer, now autumn 
fading, letting go, the grim final 
hurrah that exposes our nakedness
letting go is not so pretty, we cling,
longing for a spring we’ll never see
there’s no denying truth
when one draws near

in the end 
when all is said and done
when all that is left of us is dust
when the earth reclaims our mortal
shell, what stories will our brief life
tell, memories perhaps of greening,
vibrant, shading, dancing, dreaming, 
kissed by sun, caressed in moon glow,
brief, a blip, we laughed, we loved,
we lived life full…oh how we loved! 
when all is said and done 
in the end

~kat