Must Give Us Pause

ω

          If death ends all we see
          in Nature’s laws—
          to be, or not to be,
          with no applause—
          and seas of troubles flee
          when life withdraws,

          then how we choose to plumb
          the waters deep…
          or whether dreams may come
          in final sleep
          need never foil
          our glee of fancy free…
          though mortal coil
          may give us pause…

          But what if there be more
          than what we know—
          a door beyond the door
          to come and go?

          What further living dream
          may round us form,
          in endless norm,
          that carelessly we cause,
          and doth existing seem,
          must give us pause…

          an independent and
          dependent clause
          of consequential strand
          must give us pause…

          another cosmic clime
          in timeless time,
          a stream of conscious I’m
          in reasoned rhyme
          that carries all our flaws
          must give us pause…

          who’ll snatch us from the jaws
          of slated fate—
          that we create…
          then vainly grasp at straws—

          must give us pause…

          For should we risk perchance
          to miss the mark,
          but dizzily to dance…

          what dream of dark
          in coverlet of gauze
          may whelm our dying pause,
          and pierce with karmic claws…

          to make us heed
          in thought, in word, in deed,

          indeed,

          must give us pause…
          must give us pause…
          must give us pause…



          ~ Harley White

Sunset seen from the island of Oahu
Credit: Gerhard Lenz.