The Death Panel

The interview 8/29/2012

No matter how long you live
Life still happens
We grow up
And then grow old

We can always ask
And we can always beg
Squirming in our seat
And sweating through our collar.

We get lost in the day to day
And seldom remember
Who we are
And what really matters.

Everybody has to do something
And God only knows
How many opportunities
Slide by unseen
And unnoticed.

But in the end
Either we do
Or we don’t
As we spin our wheels
Running in place.

It is easy to get discouraged
And it is easy to feel depressed
Pulling up a warm black blanket
And covering our heads.

No one is perfect
And no one knows it all
But you have to keep on trying
No matter how much
It hurts.

I have asked before
And I have been rejected
Ashamed, wounded
Humiliated and attacked.

How many times have I asked?
And how many times
Have I been forgotten?
Passed over for the ignorant,
The evil, and the dumb.

But it is in those very moments
That we must always remember
That anything is possible
When you are loved.

There are those friends
Who are here for the moment
Here for the fun
And gone in the instant
The cold rains come.

And there are the lovers
Who grow tired
With the tedium of life
Gone when you need them the most
When obligations mount
And life gets heavy.

But the good remain
And dig in their heels
Loyal until the end
No matter what the cost.

Standing with you
Even when it hurts
Taking the risks side by side
And enduring the hardships
One after another.

For those who have stood
They shine like the sun
Burnished, polished,
And glowing.

They shall have eternity
And they shall inherit the treasure
Gaining back all that was lost
Plus so much more.

You can ask me
And I will answer
But it’s not the answer
It’s the idea
That sets us free.

We are loved
Even when we suffer
Embraced by ghosts
No man can see.

We will always be children
And we will always be a gift
Treasured and adored
As much as we can accept.

Go with a smile
No matter what shall occur
And take it all squarely
Head held high
And full of joy.

Take the glory as well as the blows
And let it pass through you
More than enough
Until it overflows.