When you've Stopped the Clocks, Cut off the Phone, Placated the Dog...

 

Slate me off – joke about me,

think of me often...but always,

bear in mind how fate dictated my life –

shaped who I was, who I would become

and most of all, remember, I don’t

 and never did ask for your approval,

 nor, your pity.

 

You have to know, I had no regrets,

no axe to grind.  Not then, not now.

You took me as you found me;

loved me or loathed me. It was,

entirely, your choice. What you saw,

exactly what you got. No great shakes.

No big surprises.

 

Where love was concerned I took

two bites of the apple, but the core

was rotten through and through.

And yet, I lived life to the full, because,

not in spite of. The amazing gift of life

doesn’t come fancy packaged, ribbon tied,

nor with guarantees, so why should I feel

hard done by?

 

My garden, the most important thing

to me, the sicker I got; there, I forgot

my mortality...the fact that nature

was biased towards the birds, and

the bees.  At least trees, and flowers

were given a second chance to flourish

again...

 

tufted vetch, the common daffodil,

dandelions, and poppies.  Bees

and butterflies never think

in months, years or centuries,

but in moments; the distance

from pansy to sweet-pea...

from daisy to buttercup.

 

What’s good enough for them

was more than good enough for me.

The light that was me will never burn out.

Look beyond your self pity and tears

and you will see it. Even now, when

the unforgiving light of day, would do

its best to blind you,  I still shine on.

Only cast your eyes to the horizon.

There I will be, where it is ever

that first blush of dawn. This…

here…now,  is all we have. Grab it,

like I did, with both hands.