This Is It.

(Life, that is.)

Another Man among the Dead said:

                “A star’s mighty good company.”

Well, I think that man must have drowned,

Saw his life flash before his eyes,

Saw people come and go,

Shutting the door,

And opening it again.

 

A Woman among the Dead said:

                “Yes.  Yes, ‘tis.”

Well, it’s the truth, I think,

That hurts most times.

 

The stars are always shining in my memory.

We’ve all been here before,

Reborn to die once more,

Forgetting what it feels like to smile, or breathe.

 

Emily, I think we’ll never understand,

Because even if the walls are painted pretty,

We’re still living in a box.

 

I don’t think that time is real,

But we are wasting it and wanting more.

It will still be there when

We can’t remember the taste of bread.

 

We are a dead audience,

Watching our lives fly by.

We will never understand.

Author's Note

Inspired by Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and many other things.

Reviews

[Austin Smith]

Haunting, and, if I understand it correctly, I agree with it 100%. We have so much potential in life (and this is a tangent from the poem), but we watch life fly by, making sure everything in our lives are "perfect" even though that's impossible. That was a tangent thought that I believe conveys my thoughts for this poem. Bravo!