A Thought Poem for Leonie by Aletta Mes

transcendent life
through birth
existence,
experience
toil, grief,
joy
all the colours
of passion
presented
each moment
for the reaping
youth hesitates
considers
agonizes

death provides transport
to the other side
of a stony wall
the reaper
moves
gracefully
back and forth
delivering
essences
of friends
enemies alike
to the other side
fear wonders
what if I?

more fellow
travellers,
since passed
generations removed
from life newly made
taking spent mortal remains,
most sadly too
those with lives
far to short
grief will
wonder
why?

there
not so
far from here
stands a wall
a wall not there
when I was young
of cold dark stone
evoking fear
and nostrils
sensing the sweetly acrid
stench of death
I have learned the limits
of mortality

the wall of
stoney perception
what was
set in motion
is not mortal
but eternal
so I too shall pass
delivered by
my new confidant
the dark gowned
figure
through stones of
not stone
but ether
knowing
as we are grieved
we are also joyfully
received

as days pass
fear grows
the reaper now stand closer
rarely am I out
of the dark figure's gaze
time moves
only forward
and the stones of the wall
again reveal
they are but ether
after all

in the reapers gaze
I stand and now look back
without fear
he now is
a familiar
a companion
encouraging acceptance
now as age advances
all senses
and all colour
mindfully yet
unhesitatingly
mine

the wall while marking a line
between the mortal and
eternal
offers
joy
reuniting
spirits of
familiar souls
to continue in eternity
forward
here in the mortal world
the legacies
of lives lived
continue in ripples
eternity offers
no here or there
only forever

without fear
now
all senses
all colour
unhesitatingly
mine
each moment
a small piece of
the eternal
in body or ether
I am

aletta

For Leonie, till we meet again.