Hi! I wrote a poem today and part of it has been inspired my Marnie’s ending meditations so I thought I would share with the community.

The steady march of my years—  

All 41 of them—keeps the machine  

Well-oiled and maintained.  

I lower my hand to my dogs,  

Feeling their gentle, loving licks,  

Taking bits of my fingerprint  

Into their own DNA that carries no guilt. 

My heart squats in my stomach,  

Lowering itself to reach the ground  

That catches me every time;  

The older one gets, the closer they feel  

To the earth that patiently awaits. Acceptance of life and death is like a steady chair,  

Unbreakable as you rest and wait  

For time to pass and bend.

Not all human bones endure;  

The collagen in our skeletons decays. Layers of what once were our bodies Become the only lingering trace  

That our dogs would continue to chase. 

Now, in the autumn of my life, 

I await the winter snow with ecstatic delight,  

Ready to feel the flakes blinding my sight. Into a blissful endless white, I go,  

Never trying to wipe away the snow.  

Even if I fall, the snowy Earth will catch me,  

And she will whisper "Steady on!"