There’s nothing quite so diametrically opposed
in a world of finites. And yet,
there are few concepts which we both crave
and fear for the marks it leaves
on our bodies and souls.
Permanence.

Would love last to eternity and beyond
as the stories promise us?
Would fame follow us all the way to an end
where even death wouldn’t allow reprieve?
Would wealth carry our dreams and burdens
through generations with no regard
for skill or merit?
Would honor give us a worthy seat at every
table so we could receive endless glory?
Would health keep us strong & supple so that
never would we miss a memory
due to illness or ache?

These are ideals, yet we live in a world of ideas;
a dimension in which the journey matters
more than the destination.
To achieve permanence would mean
sacrificing life. Time would be frozen
and void of connection.
To move and breathe and laugh and cry
requires fluidity—not just that in a droplet
of water—but of the tremendous tidal waves
crashing in the middle of a stormy sea.

We can’t find permanence here and, ultimately,
we wouldn’t know what to do with it.
Better to live in the flux. Better to live
with an open hand.
Let the experiences come and go.

The permanence of forever is somewhere else.

Originally published in Forgotten Fragments of Time (2024) Dark Thirty Poetry
SDG

LMB #4