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The Last Day

 

There was the day I realized

that I would end wanting more.

 

That I wouldn’t lie in a hospital bed

or some other deathbed

saying: I completed it.

 

I would lie panting for more,

reaching, still hungry.

 

Not because I had left things incomplete,

or made some mistake, but because

this is the way of the living.

 

After  that

I  knew I was not here to finish it,

to consume it, to become satisfied.

 

It would be more like the carousel,

when my son goes on and I stand

at the rim, and it passes

in a whirl, in a blur.

 

And I catch whatever colors I can,

and his smile always     always

pulls out of view too fast.

 

It will be like that.

It will end like that.

 

So there is no need to try to hold it.

There is no need even

to cup my hands.

 

– Tara Mohr

 

photo credit: rawpixel

 

Join the discussion 8 Comments

  • Patricia Rockwell says:

    YES! Life is like this.

  • Tara, this is so beautiful, poignant … it’s not a matter of a happy ending, rather it’s a matter of acceptance. Sharing!

  • Jillian says:

    Brilliant. Thank you. It’s in the reaching that we live.

  • Lou says:

    There is no need even to cup my hands… words to live by, thank you

  • Dee Rosario says:

    This resonated so much it brought me to tears. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like, “I have so much more to do, to say–but it’s all moving so fast.” The more I reach out to hold on, the harder it becomes to see what I was reaching for, so I’ve been putting forth an effort to see what is in front of me–with greater clarity.

  • lori says:

    lovely. thank you.

  • Colleen says:

    Interesting to ponder… if we’re not here to “finish, consume, or become satisfied”… Then what? How often are we chasing and grasping at just those things? How freeing to consider that we don’t have to. What would our focus be if it were to simply share what we have to share? To contribute what we can to benefit others & Just experience what there is in each day. How perfect and timely for me to ponder this today! Thank you!!

  • Leigh Cross says:

    Thank you, Tara! You beautifully expressed your thoughts, enabling me to open some new doors and dimensions of acceptance, comfortingly yet thought provoking.

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