How do we approach the falling night #

(An Atheist’s Farewell)

By Jim Schlueter, February 12, 2023

How do we approach the falling night
When we know there is no dawn in sight
For all the flowers have bloomed
The leaves all blown and trees stripped bare
And soon all that we know will be no more
At the closing of this door

How do we greet this season of our lives
Which will  never show us another spring
We reached our end, and now we sing
For the light the dawn will never bring
That is how I greet this season of my life

I wish that I had another life
To freely live and live again
But that is not the ticket we drew
When into this reality we flew
It is this life you get, just one
And then you’re done

So make great joy with your family & friends
Remember their smiles, hugs, embraces
Their beauty, their love, their kindness
All the sorrows, all the tears, and all the losses
But rage not against what could have been
For in this day, those are just bittersweet dreams
That didn’t find the strength to make it to the end

How do I greet the dawn that will not come today
I take wonder at the miracle that brought me here
I stand in marvel at the gift that made me appear
Knowing now is not the time to waste on any fear
Despite my aging body embracing its decay

It is time to push through, to embrace this day
For this is the time when seconds count eternity
And tomorrow’s dawn will shed no light
As I release my space for another to play
And carry forward a new role into our humanity
That it may grow and prosper in a new way

My dad wrote this 6 days before he passed away.

2023-02-23poematheismoptimistic nihilismgriefdeaththe human conditionmy dadhe's not in a better place, he's gonegone but not forgotten