Today I feel the fragility and the irony of life

The pain and helplessness against death and disease

The realization that I can’t stop my loved ones

From dying before they should…

Life has ironic rhythm and rhyme

Too many pass before their time

And the circle spins on…

Cycling the wheel before you realize

Changes come before you recognize

That one part has ended and

Another begun

One life has been blown out

Another journey has begun

At the same time

For a couple

Joining their lives together

And the irony bowls me over

Washes me with a multitude of emotions

I don’t know whether to mourn

Or celebrate…

On this weekend

Of funerals and weddings

Of death and life

Of partings and beginnings…

I guess I will do both

Before the Summer Equinox…

And feel the value of

The gift of Existence in

The Here and Now…

Such is LIFE.

Life is full of irony...

A policeman just knocked on my door

Telling me gunshots were fired outside

And recorded on rooftop sound equipment...

I told him I heard nothing like that

I have heard gun shots many times before

But not here.

My neighbor came out

Said she heard nothing

She has lived here for twenty years

Policeman left empty-handed...

I told my neighbor I had a death in the family...

She told me one of her best friends

Who visited recently committed suicide...

We hugged and commiserated...

Shared wine, grief, and news of

Our children

Grown, and doing well.

Neighbors who care.

Then we parted...

To pick up where we left off.

Such is LIFE.