Shortness Of Breath

And the cause of death is shortness of breath.
No need for pathology to pronounce
the ultimate failure to which all flesh
is prone. We are a walking charnel house
of bone, blood and muscle, with an over-
weaning sense of self importance. Between
the interplay of prey and predator,
we have the luxury to seek meaning
in the turning of the earth, the burning
of the sun. Each soul is a universe
made finite by the limits of learning
and unredeemed by myths of virgin birth.
In a secular world, death is but sleep,
while life is both peculiar and cheap.