Fading Foreordained

To fade, to dematerialize: foreordained for all, no course but to accept moons

one after another, and their phases to extinction. Sunrise brings regeneration

deterioration. We rot upright, walking toward release, alone. Even so, our clouds

of cellular matter made for transient music recede for joining. Only the way one leaves

preserves. Only love, savory sustenance of distinction guards inevitable going, even as

hatred may accelerate a prolonged passing.

To write what remains to be written endures

as penultimate charm possessed to postpone a return to darkness. Dread conceived as ill

by all outside our dim knowing: ethereal staircase spiraling through sealed floors

swaying, one-lane bridge my being yearns to cross, in this quest for final freedom.