After All

After All

It will not be long before we reflect

A time when as flowers, grasses, stately trees, joyously wet in morning's dew

Soaking up, we blossomed in our fullness

The world was at our feet, tempted to touch, admired what was only new

Our playground was everywhere our shadows were cast 

The stage was set, lights were on, the show begun 

In prime time there we were, to be seen, be admired

Glassy eyes dare to stare in astonishment of our fame, our fortune 

We shone as the stars, as luminaries elevated in our earthly skies

As others held with bated breath to see our next moves

We sauntered along as the rivers lifted to clap in praise 

The sun, the moon, bowed in gleeful light with purest delight

Other flowers of the fields with aroma pointed to our presence

Hills and valleys all came as one plain for us to walk on in our fame

Our dawn was greeted with wild ecstasy in shimmering lights

There we were in our brightest, new beginnings as all bowed at our feet

Seen in our radiance for everyone willing to greet

Then, on a day, shadows of our forms changed direction 

The number of our days marked in time as all born into it

We would be reminded of the temporal nature of our bearing

The delicate nature of our brief stay, the fragility of our being

Our texture would not feel the same, as beauty fades

It will not be the same as when we were made

When we were ascending, but now all descending 

Would we be mindful to reflect, that we didn't ask to come by here 

That the frames on which we are built are the essence, not the exterior we see

It's not before long on a fine day we join those on the other side

Who like us, once paraded in their earthly splendor 

All we possess is left behind, as helped to a place where all reside

For all we know, the discoveries shown, achievements attained 

 Yet trapped in these bodies we will become dispensable 

We will be now a tale that was told, monuments built in memoriam

We will not know what became of the world we were gifted to help make a change

When observants asked, "who was this?"

May it be that the answer will quickly come, "they were true servants, after all"